


A Part

by Lady_Helsing



Category: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers | Ronin Warriors
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Friendship, Gen, Revenge, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2018-03-20 01:52:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 39,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3632175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Helsing/pseuds/Lady_Helsing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Power. Two year have past since their victory over Haytie. The Ronin still have a lot to learn about their armors and what their future with them might me. And things just got a lot more complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to two stories of mine up on fanfiction.net that I have decided not to move over here. My user name is the same there if you want to go read them. However, you don't have to read them to understand most of what goes on in this story. It will be helpful to you to at least go read Power, but again, not mandatory.

            Just because he was the Ronin of Torrent didn’t necessarily mean Cye loved the rain. Rain didn’t really bother him and a light drizzle was actually very soothing to watch and listen to. But a torrential downpour for three days was more rain than he liked. Especially when it was humid as hell and raining.

            It was late November for crying out loud! This humidity and heat should be past them.

            Days like this made making pottery next to impossible for him with all the moister in the air. It also slowed down business. And of course today would be the day that the air conditioner in the shop blew a fuse.

            He let out a long exasperated sigh, _I hope the others are having a better day than I am_.

            The train stopped and he stepped out of the car onto the platform, opening his umbrella he gazed up at the large building across from him. This high-end luxury hotel had opened in February and was specifically design to cater only to foreigners. And Rachel had landed a job working in their café on one of the higher levels.

            Cye was picking her up for the big dinner tonight at the restaurant where Kento and now Ryo worked. A few months back Ryo had stepped up to help Kento’s family out after they had been too busy and a few hands short, since he and Kento worked so well together, Mama had given Ryo a job there. Which was good as far as Cye was concerned, Ryo needed the money and it was a subtle way for him to work on his fire skills.

            He walked across the street and into the fancy building. This wasn’t his first time here yet he was still in awe of just how grand this place was. Floor to wall marble floors, three huge crystal chandeliers just in the lobby, the cherry and mahogany wood furniture, and the many high end paintings on the wall.

            Entering the elevator he was very relieved to spend the whole ride alone. Stepping out of the elevator he saw the glass doors to the café. He had been told by Rachel that this café was modeled to look like something in old Europe. While Cye had never been to Europe he had seen plenty of pictures and this place sure looked the part. They even sold European drinks and snacks. He still wasn’t a big fan of coffee but those Italian Soda’s had become an addiction.

            Opening the door he saw Rachel busy with a customer. Both of them talking about a million miles an hour in German, she did look up long enough to smile at him before returning to the customer. Cye smiled back before sitting at the bar, he knew she still had a half hour before her shift ended.

            “Hello Cye,” the boy behind the counter smiled, “How are you?”

            “I’m alright, how are you doing Jared? It looks pretty busy today.” Cye answered in English.

            Jared had moved to Japan earlier that spring from America. He was a nice guy around Rachel’s age. Though he didn’t speak very much Japanese he was getting better all the time. “It’s been like this all day. I guess no one wants to go out in the rain, huh?”

            “Well if you’re not used to this kind of weather who can blame them?”

            “That’s true. Oh hey can I get you a drink? Or a snack?”

            The auburn haired boy smiled, “Just an ice water please.”

            Nodding Jared fixed the drink and handed it to Cye, “Hey um can I ask you a question Cye? It about Rachel.”

            He nodded, “What about her?”

            “Is she erm… is she dating anyone?”

            _Shit_. That was not the kind of question he wanted to be asked. It put him in a weird spot. Was Rachel dating anyone? No. However Cye was well aware that she had feelings for Ryo and lately it was becoming obvious that Ryo was growing feeling for her. “Um. Well I-”

            “Hey Cye.” Rachel stood next to him, “How was your day?”

            “Hi Rachel.” _Thank you_! “Oh it could have been better. Jared say’s it’s been like this all day?” He took a sip from his water.

            She nodded, “Yeah. No one wants to go out in the rain. But I was just telling a lady that going to the parks in the rain is the best time because how low the crowd is.”

            Cye gave a nod, “You heard from Sileny today?”

            “Yes and she confirmed her flight lands tomorrow night just after eleven. Has Sage gotten back from Sendai okay?”

            Sileny had been in Sweden the last three weeks visiting family while Sage and Satsuki had been in Sendai for their grandfather’s birthday. “He’s been back for a few hours. Satsuki is coming in tomorrow.” And something in Sage’s voice sounded a bit odd when he told everyone he was back.

            She nodded, “Good the whole gang will be back together before the end of the week.”

            The Ronin of Torrent smiled.

            _I sense you are here, Cye_.

            It was Black Blaze. No matter how long it had been it was still surprising to hear the demon tiger’s voice in his head. _Hello Black Blaze, I’ve only been here a few minutes. Where are you_?

            _On the roof._

            _Aren’t you soaking wet_?

            _It’s just rain. Also it’s easier to be up here than trying to hide down in that poor excuse of a break room_.

            Cye chuckled and when he noticed the looks Rachel and Jaden gave him he quickly said, “Oh just remembering something that Black Blaze did.”

            During the rest of the time he sat waiting for Rachel, Jared didn’t ask the question again. For which Cye was grateful. Instead he asked what Japan was like during Christmas, then he was told Cye how crazy the holiday season was back in America. The two had been talking about traditions when Rachel got off work.

            They were in the elevator when he said, “When Sage told us when he got back; he sounded like something was bothering him.” He looked at her, “If it’s really important he’ll say what it is.”

            Rachel nodded. Sage was always a little different after coming back from visiting his grandparents, “Maybe his grandparents are sick? I hate to sound morbid but they are in their late eighties.”

            “I don’t think that’s it. He didn’t sound sad just like he had something weighing heavy on his mind.”

            “I won’t press the issue when I see him. On a different note, what were you and Jared talking about? You looked so relieved when I came over.”

            Cye looked at the buttons on the wall, “He asked me if you were dating anyone.”

            Her eyes widened. Rachel had suspected he had a crush on her but to ask one of her friends. “Oh… wow um.”

            “I didn’t tell him you are single because I didn’t feel it was my place.” Sea-green eyes darted to her, “Would you go out with him?”

            “No.” She didn’t hesitate in her answer, “Jared is a good guy but I don’t feel attracted to him at all.”

            The rest of the elevator ride had been in silence, when they left the hotel Black Blaze was outside waiting for them. The warrior and waitress took the bullet train to china town while Black Blaze had run the whole way over.

* * *

            Ryo sat at the table next to Rowen, “Has he told you what’s up?”

            Rowen set his tea cup down and shook his head, “No. He said he’d tell us later. ‘course you know he’d tell _you_ if you asked him.”

            He knew why Sage was like that. Guess he’d just have to wait with the others.

            Kento came over and sat across from Rowen, his shift also over, a smug smirk formed on his face, “You excited to see your _girlfriend_ tomorrow?”

            “Sileny is not my girlfriend,” Rowen fired back visibly annoyed. “I will be happy to see her, yes, won’t you?”

            “I’ll be happy to see her. Three weeks gone in another country, I haven’t even stayed in America or China for that long before. Think she’ll remember how to speak Japanese?”

            “She spoke it just fine on the phone yesterday.” The archer replied and quickly added, “Her flight gets in late and she asked me to pick her up so Rachel could sleep.”

            “I wonder what Sweden is like?” Ryo asked.

            “Sileny said she was going to take a lot of pictures for you guys,” Rachel smiled as she walked to the table with Cye. “She also overnight shipped a big package to the house, saying that we had to wait for her to open it.”

            “She got us gifts?” Ryo blinked.

            “Some of it’s for us but most of it is her stuff.” Rachel shrugged, “She usually comes back with a lot of stuff when’s in Sweden for more than a week.”

            “What’s the longest she’s been there?” Sage asked as he walked up to his friends.

            She thought for a moment, “A month and a half. That was a few years ago though.”

            Kento scooted over as Cye sat down, his eyes on the blonde, “Changing the topic-now that we are all here what’s bugging you Sage? And don’t try to pass on the topic or say it’s nothing. You’ve been really quiet-even for you-since you got back.”

            The swordsman looked at his friend, Kento could be very blunt and to the point. This behavior usually bothered Sage but he had been expecting this for a few hours now. “Fine.” He sat beside Ryo and motioned for Rachel to sit next to him.

            “Is it your grandfather?” Cye asked sounding concerned.

            “Yes and no,” Sage began, “His health is fine right now so nothing to worry about there. It’s something he told me the other day when he and I finished meditating.” He paused trying to figure out how to word this, “He said he has been thinking of talking to a match maker-he did not say for who or why-but since he said it me and not one of my sisters...”

            Rachel was surprised. She knew in traditional families, such as the Date or even the Mori, match making and arranged marriages were still a common practice. Her eyes darted around the table to see everyone as surprised as she was. “Did you tell your sisters about this?”

            Sage nodded, “Yayoi was fit to be tied, she’s had a few boyfriend in the past, she has one right now too and things are pretty serious from what she told me.” He shook his head, “I thought Satsuki was going to explode. Hiding her anger is not something she’s good at.”

            _I doubt she wanted to hide it_ , Rachel thought.

            “You’re grandfather does know we have magic armor and the hell that’s put Mia, Rachel, and Sileny through right?” Kento asked, “If it is you he’s trying to get a match for wouldn’t he take that into consideration? That’s not something you just spring on a girl.”

            “Kento,” Cye looked at him, “It’s not like we can advertise it either.”

            “Cye would your family head try to set you up with a girl?” Ryo asked.

            He shrugged, “At this point I don’t think so. Chances are I have my mother to thank for that.”

            Ryo looked at Kento who said, “Gramps already told me he was leaving things like that up to me. My parents are an arranged marriage but they knew each other as kids. What about you if your dad hadn’t left the clan?”

            “I don’t know.”

            Rachel leaned over and looked at Rowen who shook his head. She looked back to Sage, “Okay let’s get hypothetical here. Say it is you and he finds a girl, what will you do?”

            “I don’t have the slightest idea. This isn’t something I ever gave much thought to and now I can’t stop thinking about it.”

            Now Kento was starting to think about it too. He saw Rachel’s eyes dart over to Ryo before going back to Sage. Kento glanced at Rowen, he was sure something was up between him and Sileny. Then he looked at Ryo (who’s attention was focused on the table) before looking back at Rachel.

            Could any of them really think about trying to be normal enough to have a relationship? It was something to think about.

            “Well until we know for sure don’t worry yourself sick over it.” Rachel nudged him, “Yuli’s tournament is this weekend so you’re not allowed to get sick.”

            Sage smiled, “Thanks Rachel.”


	2. Chapter 2

            Rowen stood in the airport the crowed at this hour was almost nonexistent so it would be easy for her to see him. And for him to see her.

            Three weeks. Three long weeks she had been gone. It was strange for him. She’d been gone for a few days at a time to Kyoto but she’d never gone out of the country before since he had known her. When she had told him she was going to Sweden because her parents would be there for a few weeks part of him was happy for her and the other half was jealous.

            Rowen wasn’t proud of his jealousy either.

            “SAS Flight 1212. Stockholm to Japan is now disembarking.”

            What was Stockholm like?  Hell what was Sweden like? Or even Germany. He’d only been out of the country a few times and only to America. Well there was Africa but he didn’t count that as a vacation. That had just been _hell_.

            “Rowen!”

            He looked up and there she was. Looking exhausted more than anything but still good. “Sil!” The archer met her half way, “You look so tired. Did you sleep at all?”

            “Gee nice to see you too,” she sighed, “No I didn’t sleep. I never do on planes, I’ve tried everything but it’s just not happening.”

             “At least you’re not slap happy tired. Ouch.” He rubbed his arm she just punched.

            “Do you know how hard it is to get slap happy when I’m reading this?” She pulled a copy of _a Game of Thrones_ out of her duffle bag. “This is depressing and I couldn’t put the damn thing down.”

            “This something I’d like?” He took the book from her, opening it, “Wait this is all in Swedish…”

            Sileny retrieved her book, “I don’t know that you’d hate it but I’m not sure you’d like it. It’s not a happy story.”

            He chuckled, “Then why did you read it?”

            “I needed to do something for ten freaking hours.”

            “Are you hungry?”

            “Famished. I want to eat then sleep for three days. I don’t have any other bags, lets go.”

            “That big package was all the stuff you took with you?”

            “Will you take me to eat something?”

            “Ask me nicely.” He smirked.

            She glared, “Rowen _feed me_.”

            An hour later they sat across from each other at their favorite ramen shop. Rowen caught her up on a few things she had missed including Sage’s news.

            Setting down her cup of coffee the Swedish girl said, “Wait is he really trying to set Sage up? Did he forget about that unpaid internship?”

            Unpaid internship had become the code word for their lives as ronin. It was ironically fitting in Rowen’s opinion. “He knows. Sage has even shown him the equipment we use. It rattled Sage’s cage pretty hard, he might not show it but I can tell he’s really pissed off. I don’t think he ever anticipated his grandfather doing this since the second round of this internship.”

            “But why would he do that to Sage without even talking to him first?”

            “Sage is his only grandson,” Rowen said, “My guess, and it’s just a guess-”

            “Yet it’s scary how often you guess right-”

            “Since Sage is the only grandson it probably looks odd to the rest of the clan that he’s still single in such a traditional family. Not everyone can be told about the internship.”

            “Still single? He’s _twenty_. Not forty-six or something.” She shook her head, “Marriage. Wow that’s just something you drop on anyone.” _Especially with what you five do_.

            Mia had been the only one in their group of friends to get married. It was possible somewhere down the road that Yuli might too. When it came to the Warlords and Kayura, Sileny doubted anything would happen. They didn’t act like it was something they wanted. Yet Rowen, Sage and the others still had living families. Even if some relationships were estranged. Had they ever thought about what they’d do with their lives at all as Ronin?

            He nodded, “On a happier thought, how was Sweden? Was it nice to see your family?”

            “It was cold and snowy. Good to see everyone though.” Sileny smiled, “My grandparents want to meet all my friends here. They’d probably travel here if they could afford it or their health would let them. Mom said they might try to make it out here next summer but I won’t hold my breath on that.”

            “Where are they heading next?”

            “Thebes.”

            “Egypt.”

            “Greece.” She saw his surprise, “Thebes is a city in Boeotia which is in the central Greece. I think they said about 50 km from Athens. A friend of theirs is helping with a dig and asked for them.”

            “Must be something to travel the world and see things from antiquity.”

            The look on her face became distant, “It takes a special person.”

* * *

 

            Sileny spent most of the next day sleeping. She woke up for a few hours to see Kento who had come over for Rachel’s fighting lesson. No, they could call it whatever they wanted, he was teaching her how to fight and defend herself.

            Ever since they had won the fight against Haytie two years ago, the guys had been training on a weekly basis. Sometimes they would spar with the warlords too. Everyone wanted to stay sharp. Kento had insisted on the girls really learning to defend themselves and even made it a point himself to go over to their house himself.

            He kept saying it was his job as a friend and brother. Kento had called himself their big brother, until he found out that Sileny was eight months older than he was.

            The girls had agreed they needed to learn and learn they did. Rachel had proven to be the more athletic of the two, Sileny attributed this to her early years of ballet-something the guys still didn’t know about. Sileny was the quicker one when it came to thinking and movement.

            When Kento saw Sileny watching him giving Rachel her naginata lessons, he asked if she wanted to join in but Sileny instated she was too tired. Which was very true. She had sent him home with three small boxes of little gifts she had picked up for them in Sweden; like she had done the night before with Rowen. The colored ribbons on the boxes stated who they were for. She just hoped they liked them.

            That had been yesterday.

            Today Sileny wanted to be anywhere but back at work. She was still exhausted and longed for her bed. The only reason she was here was because her boss had told her if she took anymore time off it could cost her the only job she had right now. Finding a new job doing what she did probably wouldn’t have been too difficult but that was not a game the Swedish girl wanted to play right now. Maybe after the start of the New Year.

            “How was Sweden, Sileny?” Madeline, her French speaking cubical neighbor, asked.

            “It was good. I got to see the family, play in the snow, and not feel a tad out of place for a while. And I wish I could just stay home to sleep today.” She sat down, setting her little dala bird she brought on her desk beside her phone. “Did I miss anything exciting?”

            “Yes. We have a new cube mate.”

            “We do?” She raised an eyebrow, “Which spot did they fill?”

            “They filled two spots in a way, our cube mate speaks Finnish, English, and like you he speaks Swedish. Oh don’t worry they hired him for the Finnish and English-” she insisted when she saw Sileny’s eyes widen, “He’s been helping with the Swedish while you’ve been gone.”

            That doesn’t really make me feel more secure, “Well…when do I meet him?”

            “I’m right behind you if you want to meet me now.”

            Sileny spun in her seat. Yup, she was Swedish like her. Tall, lean, blonde, and bright blue eyes. “Hello.”

            He gave her a smile, “My name’s Liam. It’s nice to meet you at last.” Liam offered his hand and Sileny shook it, “Maddie told me you’ve been in Sweden for two weeks. May I ask where?”

            “I was in Stockholm for a few days then I went to Gothenburg,” she answered. Something about this guy didn’t seem right. “I grew up in Kyoto though. Are you from Sweden?”

            He gave a nod, “Originally yes. I grew up in Uppsala, have you been there?” she shook her head, “You should see it sometime, it’s really nice. I moved here last week.”

            “What brought you to Japan?”

            “I haven’t decided yet. I just needed to get away from Sweden and Japan seemed a good idea.”

            Over the next few hours Sileny found it rather nice to hear someone else speaking Swedish, even if there was something about this guy she wasn’t sure what. She was thrilled when lunch time rolled around.

            “Sileny are you going out for lunch today?” Madeline asked.

            “No I’m packing up for the hell of it. Yes I’m going out.”

            Maddie giggled, “Tell tall, pale, and blue I say hello.”

            “Tall, pale and blue?” Liam asked confused, “Who is that?”

            “Sileny’s boyfriend.”

            “He’s not exactly my boyfriend…” _I’m sure what he is right now_.

* * *

 

            “Liam?” Rowen blinked, “I haven’t heard that name before. Is it common in Sweden?”

            “I’ve a cousin named Liam,” she took a long gulp of her soda, “So how’s Sage today?”

            The tall boy swallowed his fried chicken, “He’s better. He say’s thanks for the gift.” Her friend was wearing the one she got him on his right wrist. It was a leather bracelet with his name written in runic, something Rowen’s inner nerd loved. She had gotten one for each of her friends.

            “Oh good. I wasn’t sure if he’d like it or not. I almost got him something with Thor’s Hammer but that might have been a bad joke.”

            Rowen though it was funny. “So this Liam guy. You said something about him gives you a strange feeling?”

            “Yeah and I’ve no idea why. I’ve only talked directly to him for all of five minutes. Just… something weird about him that sends a flag up-what?”

            The look on his face turned serious, “Something happens let me know.”

            “You _will_ be the first.” The orange haired girl assured him. “Could we reschedule tonight for tomorrow night? I just want to lay in bed and turn into a puddle of gew tonight I’m so tired.”

            “Sure as long as you turn from gew back into you tomorrow, hard to throw a punch when you’ve no limbs.”

            Azure eyes narrowed; she flicked his hand, “Smart ass.”

            “Ouch. Sileny I’m fragile.”

            “You are many things.”


	3. Chapter 3

Where was he?

            Sage hadn’t been here before. Even though this room felt familiar, he knew he’d never been here. The room was a traditional style room, not unlike what was at the family house in Sendai. While the room had no furnishings or items on the wall there were candles floating in the air. These candles gave off soft, warm light that bathed the whole room. There was a green light outside the room, only visible by the glow that through the paper windows.

            A little squeak behind him caught his attention. The blonde looked and saw an alcove that wasn’t there before. In it was the jinbaori of Halo. At the foot of the stand it hung of was a tiny little animal. It looked like a fox but it was very small, no bigger than a house cat, and had very large ears. The fur on the animal was white and a soft gold, but the eyes were as green as Sage’s armor.

            The little fox tiled his head and spoke with a child’s voice, “Can you see me now? Can you Sage?” It looked hopeful.

            Sage woke with a start.

            It had been a dream?

            Yes it had. He sat up and looked around his bedroom. Everything was normal. In fact other than being startled awake Sage felt just fine. There was no sense of foreboding, no weird feeling in his stomach, heck he didn’t even have bed hair.

            So what was that dream all about?

            _Can you see me now_?

            What did it mean? Had he been talking to a little kitsune or something? No. No that didn’t seem right. He knew the little fox but how? And why was the jinbaori of Halo there?

            Sage glanced at the clock on the night stand, for once he had actually slept in, by two hours in fact. He got out of bed and found Rowen in the living room reading a book, probably another book from Sileny’s library.

            “Morning.” He said.

            Rowen blinked and looked over, “Morning? What?”

            “Were you up reading all night?” His friend nodded, “Must be a good book. Is it one of Sileny’s?”

            “Not exactly,” he put a bookmark in his library copy of _A Game of Thrones_ , “It’s a dark fantasy book. Sil’s reading it but she doesn’t know I am too.” He watched the blonde go into the kitchen, “Sleep well?”

           “Yeah. I had a really strange dream though.”

            “A nightmare?”

            “That’s just it, it wasn’t a nightmare.” Sage let the water for the tea heat up while he told Rowen about his dream, “You have any dreams like that?”

            “No. That is weird though. Maybe your armor is trying to reach out to you or something?”

            “I guess that’s not impossible. There’s still a lot about these armors we don’t know. But why chose now of all times?”

            “I don’t know. I’d say because you’re stressed out but I don’t think that’s the reason.”

* * *

 

           “I gotta admit these little bracelets Sileny got us are pretty sweet,” Kento grinned. “Kind of neat to see my name in another language.”

            “You mean one that isn’t Asian?” Ryo teased as he set a stack of clean plates down. The restaurant was slow today so these two were given run of the back. Mama did that for them as much as she could so they could practice little things without drawing attention. He looked at his own bracelet, “Her note said runic isn’t really used anymore but it was widely used in Scandinavia and most Viking settlements.”

            “I think I heard Vikings were some kind of big scary warriors, we should ask her about that when we see her later.”

            “Just be careful, Sileny might be from a clan of them for all we really know if they came from Scandinavia.”

            Kento chuckled, “Would explain Rowen’s attraction to her. I swear he has a thing for girls who could kick ass.” The two had a good laugh over that. It also made Kento remember something, “Hey Ryo.”

            “Yeah?”

            “Did Cye or maybe Rachel tell you what happened a few days ago at her job?” Cye might tell Kento this wasn’t his place to tell Ryo things like this. And maybe it wasn’t. Kento didn’t really care.

            The Ronin of Wildfire looked concerned, “No. Is it something I should know about?”

            “It’s something I think you should know about.” Kento put a towel back over the large kitchen sink, “One of the guys at Rachel’s work asked Cye if she was going out with anyone.” He paused to watch Ryo’s concern turn to surprise, “Cye didn’t give him an answer. Without an answer this guy’s probably going to ask her out.”

            Ryo wasn’t sure how he felt about this. “Why are you telling me-?”

            “Dude I see the way you look at her. The way you’ve been looking at her for the past year and a half. Why haven’t _you_ asked her out?”

            He didn’t have an answer. Not really. Was he attracted to Rachel? Yes. But something was holding him back. “I…”

            His friend sighed, “If it’s the Armor of Wildfire that’s holding you back, don’t let it.”

            “Did you tell this to Sage too about what his grandfather’s doing?”

            “No. That’s different, in arranged marriages you don’t really get to know the other person until after the wedding, even I know that.” He felt a little insulted, “Rachel knows the danger. She knows us. It’s been two years since the last attack, sure there’s probably one not far off, but Rachel and even Sileny can fight now. Not as good as us but they aren’t defenseless.”

            Ryo knew this. Hell he had been the one who started teaching Rachel; because he cared. And it wasn’t like he didn’t want to ask her out. Over the past two years more than enough opportunities had come and gone that he never took. Something was holding him back and it wasn’t just the armor.

            Also… every now and then he still remembered that nightmare he had with the Armor of Inferno and how Luna had turned into Rachel.

            “I’ll think about it,” He finally said.

* * *

 

            “You get better every time you practice Sileny,” Cye smiled at her. Rowen hadn’t been able to make it after all, turned out he had a test at the university that was going much later than he planned.

            She smiled at him, “Thanks. Hopefully I wasn’t too much of a pain tonight.”

            He shook his head, “I know you’re still a little tired from getting back. Air travel does the same to me.”

            They had been in Yoyogi Park just doing some simple hand to hand moves, until it got darker and they were the only ones there. He took out the collapsible staff and helped her with a few moves. It was always easier doing the staff training with Cye since he was as tall as she was.

            Now they walked down the pathway back to the city, “By the way,” Sileny started, “Rachel told me about Jared.” She looked at him, “Did you tell anyone?”

            “I told Kento,” He freely admitted, “I thought about telling the others. It just didn’t seem like something I should do after…”

            “I get that,” she nodded, “That really must have left you guys with something to think about.”

            The potter nodded, “Sage says he never thought about a family.”

            “What about you? Lets put the whole match making bull crap aside, is a family something you want?”

            He hesitated, “Yes actually. I know that might sound crazy, after everything the five of us went through, then the things you and Rachel also had to go through because of us. It is something I do want though.”

            “It’s not crazy.”

            “I hope not.” He smirked at her, “You and Rowen seem to be working something out.”

            She rolled her eyes, this again? “Okay I do-” Sileny gasped when Cye pulled her back as something went wooshing past her face and hit the tree to the side of the path. “What the hell?”

            “It’s a throwing star,” Cye said in a hushed voice.

            Sileny stiffened.

            The lights on the path got hit with what had to be other throwing stars, the two stood there in the dark with only the residual light from the city around them. They stood stark still and listened. Cye kept his face forward but his eyes stared at the bushes to the side. He saw something move.

            He was about to tell her to get ready to run, then they sprung out, surrounding the duo. Cye could just make out what they looked by the city glow. This group around them looked like, as corny as it sounded, ninjas.

            _Guys come to Yoyogi Park, Sileny and I might need some back up_.

            One of them rushed forward, Cye wrapped an arm around his friend’s waist and spun with her, kicking the attacker in the chest and knocking him back. Another came from the side but Sileny swung her back, hitting him in the face and sending him to the ground. Cye used that extra force to catapult out of the entrapping circle.

            Once he landed, Cye let go of Sileny but made sure she stayed close, “Who are you creeps?!” He demanded.

            They didn’t give him an answer; just charged forward.

            Summoning up his subarmor and yari, the Ronin of Torrent guarded his friend, “Sileny if you get the chance then get out of here.”

            “Don’t think that’s going to happen,” She replied pulling the collapsible staff out of the bag, she could make out more figures rushing up from behind.

            _Shit_. Cye blocked an attack from another ninja who was bold enough to bring a sword, he pushed him back and swung at another who got to close. He could hear his friend clashing behind him. Sensing a water line under them, he slammed the bottom of the staff down; when he lifted it back up the water came out of the ground. The water swirled around him and Sileny, providing a barrier between them and their attackers.

            One of them reached through the spinning wall of water, grabbed Sileny leg and brought her down. She yelped in surprise then winced when she hit the ground. Cye turned and cut the arm of the attacker, “Leave her alone!”

            There was a cry of pain before the hand retreated back through the water wall. As the hand retreated a few swords stuck their way into the wall. Lucky they didn’t touch Cye or Sileny but it was a very unwelcome surprise.

            _Cye jump up_!

            He quickly helped up Sileny and jumped into the air with her as the ground beneath them split in to. The warrior sent the water shooting out at the remaining standing enemies. Landing a few feet away, he was glad to see Kento and Sage come running up to them in their subarmor, weapons drawn.

            “Are you guys alright?” Sage asked.

            Both nodded.

            “I guess our break is over,” Kento stood beside his best friend ready to attack.

            The blonde stood behind the girl, “Lets shed some light on this situation.” He lifted up his sword and a bright white light illuminated the whole area. After his eyes adjusted to the light, Sage felt his heart speed up. He recognized those outfits.

            Those few who remained standing didn’t move. Surprised by the sudden arrival of the other two or something else, they couldn’t really tell. They exchanged words quickly in English before one threw down a heavy duty smoke bomb. As the smoke filled the air the Ronin of Halo instinctively reached his hand out and took Sileny’s arm.

            When the smoke cleared the ninja’s were gone. Like they had never been there.

            “Cowards!” Kento shouted, “Get back here and face us!”

            “Kento!” Cye glared at him.

            “Sage?” Sileny was looking at her friend who was gripping her arm a little too tightly.

            He snapped out of it and let go of her, “You okay?”

            Her brow furrowed, “Are _you_ okay?”

            “Sage what’s wrong?”

            Kento looked over, “Hey man you look like you saw a ghost.”

            “I… I don’t know.”


	4. Chapter 4

            This was usually the part when someone asked ‘are you sure that’s what you saw?’ In this case no one questioned it. For that alone Sage was grateful. It was hard even admitting this out loud. But he knew those outfits. Better than the others did.

            Sileny looked across the room to Rowen, “You didn’t say anything about fighting ninja’s in America.”

            “I didn’t think it was important. We won that fight and didn’t ever see them again.”

            “Until an hour ago,” Sage looked at him.

            “Hey I’m not questioning what you saw. Far from it. I’d like to know what the hell they are doing here. Especially since it’s been almost five years since that whole mess.”

            “Yeah. We beat them once are these guys sure they want round two?”

            “Calm down Kento.”

            He looked at Cye, “Calm down? They tried to get jump on you with Sileny there. If it is the same creeps they sure haven’t learned anything!”

            Rachel looked from Sage to Ryo, then back to Cye, “You said they took off after they saw Sage and Kento came. Were you three in full armor?”

            “No, just our sub gear.” Cye answered, “Why do you ask?”

            “Well your sub gear is black and silver. Your old ones were mostly white with the primary color of your armor. Maybe that’s what they expected to see and when they didn’t…”

            “They probably don’t know we got an upgrade,” Rowen nodded, “I say we go with that theory for now. They didn’t know much about our armors last time, and that Shikaisen said he didn’t know there were other armors.”

            “He didn’t know there were five armors?” When they shook their head the younger girl looked to the blonde warrior, “How did he know about yours then?”

            He shrugged, “I don’t know. Not once did anyone tell me how they knew about the Halo armor. Shikaisen and his followers just wanted the armor and it’s power...” a dark look crept into Sage’s eyes.

            “What about your grandfather?” Sileny asked, “Did you ask him about it? You were gone a few weeks he must have thought something had happened.”

            “Yes and no. I asked both my grandparents about it but they didn’t know either. As for me being gone longer than I was supposed to be that wouldn’t have surprised either of them I wasn’t going back to Sendai right after New York. Also for all they knew we had been attacked-which wasn’t far off the mark.”

            _Wasn’t far off?! You had been kidnapped_! Rachel grimaced.

            Rowen stepped in here, “Shikaisen said that he was a master sorcerer of the dark arts. That guy had to be from this part of the world but he lured us all over to America, even if he didn’t realize it at the time, because he wanted the power our armors had. They used a computer and sorcery to control the Halo Armor while they tortured Sage.”

            Cye looked at the girls, “That sorcerer claimed to be immortal but he really wasn’t in the end.”

            _Someone who used science and sorcery? Fan-friggin-tastic_. Sileny sighed. “I don’t suppose anyone’s asked Cale or the others if they knew anything about this Shikaisen?”

            “Not yet but we defiantly will now.”

            “What about you?” Rachel looked down to Black Blaze who had been sitting next to her with his resting comfortably in her lap.

            Until she spoke to him the demonic tiger hadn’t moved. An ear twitched and he looked at the ronin, _I have not heard of this Shikaisen before. However I might know what he was. It sounds to me that he was an onmyoji_.

            “An onmyoji?” Kento was clearly confused, “What that?”

            Rachel looked at Sileny who shook her head.

            “Onmyoji...the words sounds familiar,” Rowen tried to remember where he had heard the word but couldn’t.

            _They are a type of sorcerer. Centuries ago many of them served in the imperial courts and many others served high ranking families. Here and even in the Nether Realm before Talpa took over. Using magic and different forms of divination they could do many things. Most of the time they were employed to protect the capital and important cities from evil spirits or yokai. Some could even summon spirits and control them_. The tiger told them.

            White Blaze put his head on Ryo’s knee, _I recall meeting a few of them_.

            Rowen relayed the info to the girls.

            “Given what we went through that does answer a few questions,” Cye admitted. “This is something we’ll need to look into.”

            “Let Sileny and I do some digging to see what else we can find on the Onmyoji.” The archer said, “Then we can ask Kayura and the others if they know anything about Shikaisen.”

            “What I want to know is how he knew about the Halo armor.” Sage said.

            “How about how he knew there was magical armor out there?” Kento added. “And who’s the new jerk coming to bug us anyways? His scientist flunkie got himself sacrificed.”

            “Are there other magic armors out there?” the Burnette looked at older of the two girls.

            “There’s stories about magic weapons and pieces of armors like helmets, gauntlets and the like but I’d have to check about a full suite of armor.”

            The younger girl asked, “If onmyoji are a Japanese sorcerers what was one doing in America? That’s a bit odd.”

            “Only thing that makes sense about that is it gets us out of Japan to an unfamiliar place,” Cye said.

            “Rowen, I work the morning shift tomorrow so you go ahead and get a jump start on the research. I might be able to look at few things on the net at work.”

            He nodded.

* * *

 

            Somehow everyone ended up falling asleep in the living room until Rachel had brought out the blankets and spare pillows. It wasn’t the first time an unplanned sleepover happened. Almost everyone had fallen asleep with the exceptions of Rowen and Kento.

            Both had gone out into the backyard to get some fresh air to try and clear their heads. The night air was crisp with the coming sign of winter finally in the air. Not a cloud was in the sky. By all accounts it was a beautiful evening if they had just been paying attention to it.

            “Ryo was really quiet while we told him what happened,” Kento said breaking the long silence.

            Rowen nodded, “That’s something I would have expected from Sage not him.” He looked at the sky, “Sage is visible upset by this, as he should be, at least this time we had some kind of warning.”

            “Yeah and when we find those guys again, I’m going to give them hell.” He slammed his fist into his hand.

            The taller one shook his head, this was just like Kento. “We’ll need to keep an eye on Sage just in case they tried to go after him again. Might need to keep an eye on Ryo too.”

            “I get wanting to keep an eye on Sage, but Ryo? They caught Sage last time but I pity those guys if they try to get the jump on him now. Why keep an eye on Ryo?”

            “Ryo wasn’t acting like himself tonight. He was really quiet and on our way over here he acted like his mind was someplace else.” The archer saw the look on his friends face go from curious to the look a kid gets when they realized they did something wrong. “Kento?”

            “I might be partly to blame to for that…”

            “What did you do _now_?”

            “Well earlier at the restaurant I told Ryo something Cye told me about one of the guys at Rachel’s work wanting to ask her out.”

            Rowen nodded, Sileny had told him this story earlier. “And?”

            “I told him that he should just be the one to ask her out. I mean it’s obvious that he’s attracted to her and she to him. He said he’d think about it-”

            “Then this happens and his mind goes back to Los Angeles.” Now it made sense. He leaned back and gave an aggravated sigh. It had been years and he had really hoped Ryo had put that death behind him by now. Rachel was not Luna. There was a world of differences. No one had expected her death to hit him that hard. Rowen cursed.

            “If I’d know this was going to happen I wouldn’t have said anything.” The Ronin of Hardrock could have hit himself, “But really… I just wanted to help him out..” words left him while he was trying to explain.

            “Kento I get it. I do.”

            They heard sliding glass door open then turned to see Rachel walk over to them a thick blanket around her, “How long are you two going to be out here? It’s past midnight.”

            “Sorry, we’ll be in soon.” Kento gave her a smile.

            “Rachel which shift do you work tomorrow?” Rowen asked.

            “I work the afternoon shift, Black Blaze is going to follow Sileny to work and stay there a few hours before he comes to the café and come home with me.”

            “You three already figured that out?”

            She shifted her weight, “If this is a new threat or one from your past, then you guys have enough to worry about. Sileny and I can handle a few things on our own. Especially this round thanks to you guys” The young girl offered a small smile before going back into the house.

            Kento and Rowen looked at each other.

* * *

 

            Rachel hadn’t meant to ease drop on them. Part of her was glad she had while the other part wanted to scream. She walked through the kitchen and into the living room, pausing only a moment to look at everyone, before she headed up the stairs to her room.

            She felt so upset right now. For different reasons. Once more her friends had to fight someone who thought their armor like power flavored candy. Unlike the last two, however, this one was connected with someone from their own past. Or so they all thought.

            Ninja’s dressed like the ones they fought in America. Was it really the same ones? Admittedly she knew next to nothing about ninja’s besides the way the media portrayed them. If it was the same ones that would mean they found a new master. Yet if it wasn’t the same ones then they’d be in the sea of the unknown again.

            And now she just hoped things wouldn’t get weird. Haytie had made it loud and clear he wasn’t interested in her or Sileny. These guys had gone after Cye with Sileny there and even attacked her. Rachel’s mind was racing with scenarios of the guys getting over protective of them. Not that she could blame them given the history…

            That was another thing that upset her. The history with this enemy.

            Mia and Yuli had been kidnapped last time and Luna had been killed. Luna. She was like shadow that Rachel just couldn’t get away from. Someone she had never even met and felt like she was constantly being compared to. Couldn’t the guys compare her to Mia or Kayura every once in a while?!

            Rachel walked into her room, closing the door behind her. Slumping against the door she closed her eyes tightly.

            _I told him that he should just be the one to ask her out. I mean it’s obvious that he’s attracted to her and she to him. He said he’d think about it_.

            She felt like a pathetic little school girl. Her heart had raced a million miles an hour when she heard that. Now it wasn’t going to happen.


	5. Chapter 5

            Black Blaze walked carefully among the sleeping humans as he made his way to the second floor. He was not sure what to make of this sudden appearance of minions to a long dead master. Or perhaps he should re-think that. It wasn’t impossible for there to be a new master for this group.

            He found White Blaze laying outside Rachel’s closed door.

            That in itself was odd. _Her door is closed? That’s not like her_.

            _She is upset about something_ , White Blaze sat up. _I don’t like this_. _I wasn’t there the last time and it makes little sense to wait so long if their motive is revenge_.

            _Under normal circumstances I would agree. However it’s not impossible to think these ninjas have a new master. If this is the case it would take time to prepare for revenge_.

            The white tiger let out a sigh, _Black Blaze maybe we should both watch the girls? I’ll look after Rachel and you can look after Sileny_.

            Black and gold eyes narrowed, _I’m not thrilled about sharing my masters_. _Perhaps there is more we can do for your masters_.

            _I’m sure there will be. Black Blaze would you open a portal for me? I want to do something._

            _You can open your own portal. Use your own powers before they fade away for good._

* * *

 

            “Let me see if I got this right,” Ryo looked at Kayura, “You want the five of us to follow you into the Nether Realm to meet with an onmyoji that Dais knows?”

            “Yes you have it one-hundred and ten percent right,” Kayura stated. “Like I said earlier, White Blaze came to the Nether Realm last night and told us what happened. Dais knows of an onmyoji just outside the city, he went and spoke with him and he has agreed to meet with you all. He knows who this Shiakisen was and has offered to talk about it.”

            “What about Rachel and Sileny? They can’t come.” Rowen looked at her.

            “I don’t think we need to go,” Rachel looked at him. Sileny had left for work hours ago, yet Kayura had been at the house since before Sage woke up, thus it was likely she talked with Kayura about this. “Nor do I want to go.”

            “Sileny didn’t want to go either.” Kayura shrugged, “I can understand that, though you two would be perfectly safe.”

            “Maybe another time…” _Maybe_.

            “I don’t know how I feel about going back there,” Kento crossed his arms, “Or leaving Rachel and Sileny here alone.”

            “White Blaze and Black Blaze will be here. I can also have Sekhmet and Cale come keep an eye on them.”

            “I don’t have a problem with that.” The younger girl looked at her friends, “You guys can go get your answers. Sekhmet’s been wanting to see the café and try the food so he can do that. Cale already knows where Sileny works and they can come back here when she gets off.”

            Cye looked at her then to Kayura, “I’m glad we have a chance to get some answers but I agree with Kento. I don’t feel all that good about returning to a place where I was a prisoner.”

            “You all have my word as your friend that you’ll be safe. The Nether Realm is safer than when you all fought Talpa and we worked hard to get it that way. All of his supporters are either imprisoned or dead. And time is finally moving normally again.”

            “Time is moving normally?” Ryo repeated.

            “Oh right I never explained that. After Talpa took over he did something to the time stream in the Nether Realm so it moved incredibly slow. Since you defeated him the time stream began to move normally and it’s finally in sync with the mortal world again.”

            Sage let out a sigh, “As much as I don’t like the idea of going there either, I’d like some answers about Shikaisen.”

            “Right then we will go then.” Ryo announced.

            Kayura smiled triumphantly, “Great! Dais and I will come get you guys in a few hours after you’ve had breakfast and have changed into fresh clothes.” She looked at Rachel, “You start work at five?”

            “Yes, um tell Sekhmet he can arrive any time after six.”

            The other girl nodded, “I’ll see you guys in a few hours.” She then walked to the front door, when she opened it the guys saw a room on the other side, they watched her step in and close the door behind her.

            Kento rushed forward and opened the door. All he saw was the front yard. “What in the…?”

            “Did she just make a portal out of my front door?”

            “When did she figure out how to do that?” The Ronin of Hardrock asked before closing the door.

            Ryo looked over, “Rachel.”

            “Hm?”

            “You sure you’re alright with us going? I don’t like leaving you two here.”

            “I’m not okay with it but I trust Kayura and Dais. I don’t want to go nor do I really need to for this. White Blaze will be here with me and Sekhmet will be in the café later. And if he’s on half as high alert was he was while we wandered around Haytie’s palace, then I pity the idiot who so much as looks at me wrong.”

            _I sure hope Jared isn’t working with you then_ , Cye thought.

            Sage gave the girl a long look, _she’s exhausted_. He wondered if the others had noticed it, “Go take a nap if you’d like Rachel. We’ll head out to get ready for all this.”

            She nodded, “Call me when you guys get back.”

* * *

 

            Rowen put a fresh shirt on then glanced down the hall to his roommate, “Did you get any sleep last night? You don’t look so good.”

            “I slept but it was a restless sleep,” Sage replied walking into the hallway, “I don’t sleep well when there’s a lot on my mind.”

            He knew that. None of them ever slept well when something weighed heavy on their mind, “We’ll get through this one as quick as we can. I’m sure you’d like that more than anyone.”

            Sage muttered something he wasn’t sure Rowen could hear. He didn’t really want him to hear it either. What happened to him in the states wasn’t something Sage had ever talked much about and no one pressured him too. Well Kento tried once. Yet at that point they all knew it was just how Sage dealt with thing, it was one of the few things he had in common with his father.

            _Guys,_ it was Ryo _, Kayura is at my place. Just come over when you’re ready_.

            The two looked at each other and gave a nod.

* * *

 

            She stood beside the closet door, “Is everyone ready?”

            “Are you making a portal through my closet?”

            “Yes. Don’t worry it will close once we are all in the Nether Realm. Sekhmet and Cale are already out here to keep an eye on Rachel and Sileny.”

            “Then let go get this over with,” Cye said and the others agreed.

            Kayura opened the door to reveal a large room then stepped through, the others followed her.

            Kento was the last one though the door, “Where are we? In the castle?”

            “Yes. We are in one of the guest rooms.”

            The room itself was in the traditional style like the rest of the castle, yet it was bare. No decorations or furnishings of any kind. Only one of the windows was open to let in a sliver of light.

            “How long will it take us to get to this onmyoji?” Rowen asked.

            “It will take an hour by horseback,” she answered, “I recall hearing a few of you high jacked some horses the last time you were here but we will go by carriage this time.”

            “It’s a horse, they can’t be hard to drive er ride.”

            “Horseback riding isn’t like driving a car, Kento.” Sage gave his friend an annoyed look.

            “It’s not like riding White Blaze either,” The blue haired girl chimed in. She had been taking lessons but still found it challenging. Walking across the room, she opened a door to the hallway, “Follow me and try not to attack the guards. They serve the Warlords and myself now.”

            Rowen looked at her, “If they play nice then we will too.

            The rest of the walk through the castle was in silence. Things looked almost exactly the way they all remembered. When they passed the guards, Ryo sword he could see them tense up and a few grip their staffs or spear extra hard. He and the others may have been gone for a few years but it was obvious their actions had left an impression.

            Kayura lead them down a staircase and Dais was at the bottom waiting for them, “You all don’t look as uncomfortable as I thought you would.”

            “Yet,” Kento remarked, “How do you know an onmyoji?”

            “His name is Noburu. He used to live here in the capitol, he left not long after we all arrived here. Telling us he was not going to help us nor do anything against us. Talpa never saw him as a threat or an ally so he never bothered to look for him.” Dais motioned for them to follow him.

            “After you finally defeated Talpa we began to track down everyone who had once lived in the capitol to invite them back if they wished. Noburu told us he was content in his home and invited us to meet with him whenever we chose. We have visited him a few times. He is a good man.” He explained.

            Kayura looked at them, “Before you ask-we didn’t tell you about him before because there wasn’t a reason to.”

            Ryo nodded, “He knows who Shikaisen was?”

            “Yes.” Dais paused by a doorway, “I told him only what you told me about what happened in America. As soon as I mentioned Shikaisen’s name he looked very troubled. He told me to bring you all to him if I could and he would happily explain a few things.”


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I uploaded this here already, my apologies.

Chapter Six

 

            Cye looked out the window of the large carriage. The sky outside was still the same golden color he remembered, only now there was a softness to it. That was the best way he could describe it. Last time he saw it the sky looked almost dead, like an old painting that wasn’t well done. It was creepy; now it held a beauty.

            There was a lot more activity in the city too.

            Guards and solders walked around casually, of course, but he could see others now. Other yokai not clad in armor. He knew what several of them were, kappa, a nekomata, a tengu, and a bunch of tsukumogami. Others he had no idea what they might be, some looked human but wore masks and others looked like balls of light just floating.

            The capitol was very much alive now.

            “Are they all citizens of the Neather Realm?” He asked turning his attention to Kayura and Dais.

            Dais nodded, “It’s taken a few years but now things are getting on the way to a full recovery. When I first came here it was still a thriving city; once they all found out how serious Talpa was about control, thanks to Banamon and his actions, they began a revolt. Those who didn’t manage to escape were either imprisoned or executed.”

            “That’s terrible.”

            “That’s conquest.”

            The rest of the trip was in silence. They didn’t even talk to each other. Occasionally Cye would glance to his blonde friend, he could see the mask Sage wore but he knew that under it his friend was raging in thought like a summer thunderstorm. Cye could only imagine what he was going through right now.

            Buildings gave way to rolling green hills until they saw a small cottage come into view. It was surrounded by maple and wisteria, a figure stood on the veranda wearing a long kimono and smoking from an old pipe.

            Kento took a good long look at the figure. If this was Noburu, he looked nothing like Shikaisen had. Shikaisen had been small and all wrinkles. This man was short, yes, but he looked middle aged, not old. “Is that him?”

            Dais nodded, “That’s Noburu.” The carriage stopped and the warlord was the first one out, “Noburu. I hope you haven’t waited too long?”

            “Ha! Of course not. I’ve been enjoying the simple pleasures of life,” He took another puff from his pipe as the others exited the carriage, “Ah... so these are the warriors.”

            “All five of them, and you remember Kayura?”

            “The old one yes, I haven’t had the pleasure of her as she is now.” He bowed, “Welcome to my little abode-that’s a fun word abode-please come in. I’m sure you’ll want to get as far away from that carriage as possible. I have tea brewing if anyone is thirsty.” Their host took a cane off the wall and hobbled back inside.

            The ronin shared looked with each other before following Dais inside, with Kayura bringing up the rear.

            Sage felt his stomach twisting and that tingling sensation run up and down his spine like a hamster stuck on one of those wheels. He wanted answers but at the same time he did not want to be here.

            Noburu lead them into a medium sized room, there was a long table in the center with tea, little snacks and even a sake set. Cushions lay on the floor, “Please make yourselves comfortable.” He turned to his guests, “Will it bother anyone if I continue to smoke? I don’t want to make anyone sick.”

            There was a collective no we don’t mind.

            Rowen arched a brow, “You do know that stuff will kill you, right?”

            “Ha ha! It hasn’t yet.” He old man gave a smug smile, “Glad to see you all know how to talk. But then given your history I should expect as much.” Sitting at the head of the table he waited for the others to sit, “Right then. Incase Dais hasn’t told you already, my name is Noburu. I’d like you all to tell me your names,” His eyes turned to Rowen, “Why don’t you start us of? Just your name.”

            “Rowen Hashiba.”

            “Sage Date.”

            “Cye Mouri.”

            “Kento Rei Fang.”

            “Ryo Sanada.”

            “Why did you want to know our names?” Cye asked, “Surely Dais has told you about us.”

            “Or you’ve heard it from others I’d bet,” Kento added.

            “I have heard of you and I could have guessed who was who. Yet no, Dais hasn’t told me all that much about you five, nor have I ever asked. I am an old man and I do my best to stay out of affairs that don’t concern me,” The old man took another drag from his pipe, “I suppose that is enough of the pleasantries for today. You’re all here about Shikaisen, are you not?”

            They all nodded.

            “Right then, will you please tell me exactly what happened between you and him? Then I might be able to tell you why.”

            It took close to an hour to go over the story of what happened. Their host was quiet the whole time they talked. By the time they had gotten around to going from New York to L.A., he had finished smoking his pipe. His eyes had widened when they arrived at Luna’s fate and he kept a solemn look until the end.

            “We never looked into what he was or what he wanted because after that nothing close it happened again until last night,” Rowen finished.

            Here Cye gave a quick explanation of what happened.

            Noburu nodded, “Now this Sileny, she is an ally of yours?”

            “Yes,” Kento nodded, “She and her friend Rachel. They’re really good friends, they know about our armors and they’ve been through some stuff with us.”

            Dais set down his tea cup, “The girls don’t have any powers and they are teaching them how to fight. Rachel and Sileny are two civilians who got dragged into this, even so, they have proven helpful. Rachel is in training to become a doctor for children; she’s treated many of their wounds. Sileny knows a lot about the world’s myths and legends, which has come in useful too.”

            Their host nodded, “Then it’s my turn to tell you all a story.” He leaned back, “Shikaisen and I both worked in what remained of the Imperial Court centuries ago shortly after everything began to calm down once the Sengoku was finally over. When we first met I knew he was an ambitious man, yet I didn’t know just how ambitious.

            Our jobs as onmyoji are simple enough. We advise, conjure, and even help predict the future. These things are tricky. Shikaisen wasn’t content to just keep on like this, he told me so himself. He said we as onmyoji had the real power and we should be the ones to rule. We should be the ones who guard the sacred treasures. The ones who truly decide who will live and who will die. After all we are able to use powers no one else in our country can.”

            “He had a god complex.” Cye surmised.

            “Oh yes. One that was hard to control. And power. He was a power hungry fool. How he got such notions I don’t know, I never wanted to know.”

            “How would he had known about my armor,” Sage finally asked. “He didn’t know there were others and he knew I had it.”

            “I dare say he found out by accident.”

            “Care to explain that?” Ryo’s brow furrowed. How does one find out about magic armor by accident?

            “One day after we received many visitors at court, including one Date clan member,” his eyes drifted to Sage then to Rowen before closing. “He had come to see the emperor shortly he ascended the throne. I don’t know what was said but Shikaisen came rushing into the library saying he had discovered the Date clan had a powerful armor that had come to them from the realm of demons and we must all rally to take it from him. He said the clan was unworthy of it and only beings like him should use its power.”

            Kayura saw her friends tense up.

            “Only two others decided to join him, the rest of warned the emperor about what Shikaisen was about to do. The next day before the whole court, he was arrested along with his followers. He cursed us, calling us traitors, and the emperor banished them. An extremely light punishment if you ask me, all three of them should have been killed.”

            “What do you think they wanted the armor for?” Kayura asked.

            “I think they wanted it to cause chaos and possibly try to take over the world. Shikaisen was a power hungry man with a control freak personality. We all thought he and his underlings had died after being banished to the island. But when Dais came here and spoke his name, I understood that to be false hope. You five had to kill him after he put you through so much.”

            Dais looked thoughtful, “If he was banished to an island there’s no way of telling how he or his underlings made it to America is there?”

            “I’m afraid not. On that we can only speculate. I don’t even know why he would chose America. True I don’t know much about the place, however, I know magic is different on every continent. For example a protection charm here won’t work the same way in say-China. It would still protect you, just not as well.”

            “When we saw Shikaisen he only had one real henchman with him,” Kento said, “He wasn’t Japanese-or Asian at all. Certainty couldn’t speak the language very well either. Maybe his other two underlings died?”

            “I’d hope so. I can’t remember their names, though I do remember how clever those two were. They also had the ability to shapeshift for a few hours, a rare and painful trick. It wasn’t uncommon to see someone keep a different face if they couldn’t change back that’s why so many just didn’t want to learn it. Far more trouble than it was worth.”

            “Shapeshifting was real?” Dais looked at him, “I thought that was just a story.”

            “It was real and the time for it was limited to a few hours. A body is designed to be the way it is. Magic can only change that for so long and the process is very painful from what I saw.”

             “You never shape shifted?”

            “No my strongest skill was foresight, but we are not here to talk about me. Is this the only time those ninjas have appeared?”

            “As far as we’ve noticed,” Ryo answered. “White Blaze and Black Blaze haven’t sniffed them in town before.”

            “Ah you do have those two,” he set his pipe down, “Good. Now I do need to ask a few questions. Do you families know of your armor?”

            Rowen freely admitted, “Mine’s the only one who doesn’t.”

            Noboru nodded, “And these girls, Rachel and Sileny. What are they to you? Friends? Perhaps lovers?”

            Kento stole a glance to Ryo and Rowen.

            Cye said, “They are our friends. Dais already told you that, so why ask?”

            “Because while I’d like to hope the underlings are dead, hope isn’t a strategy. If Shikaisen got off the island it’s likely they did as well. And if he went after your friends Mia and Yuli once, it’s likely they will go after them or other friends. Even family members.”

            Sage paled, “My little sister lives in Tokyo but the rest of the family is still in Sendai.”

            “My family live in Yokohama,” Kento sat up straighter.

            “I’m not sure where my dad is at the moment, he travels around the world.”

            “My family live in Hagi.”

            Rowen thought a moment, “Dad’s in Osaka but my mother is in America.”

            “Tell your families that are closest to you first. And I trust you’ll tell your two lady friends as well.”

            “Are they after us just for revenge?” Ryo asked, already sure of his answer.

            “And your armor. You surely didn’t need me to tell you that.”

* * *

 

            They had left shortly after with Noboru offering his help again if they needed it.

            None of them felt any better after the visit. They felt worse.

            Dais had been watching them the whole carriage ride back to the palace. “Nothing has happened to the girls while you’ve been away. Sekhmet is enjoying himself at the café with Rachel, it’s a slow night. Sileny is telling Cale stories from Norwegian myths-something about a place called Valhalla.”

            “We’re going to need to think of something. We can’t be with them twenty four hours, that’s not realistic and it will bring more attention to them.” Rowen rubbed his forehead; all this was giving him one hell of a headache.

            “Maybe I should have White Blaze stay with them too?”

            “Dude no, then you’d be alone, they have Black Blaze who’s gotten super protective of them the last few years.”

            “We found a few things in the armory to help them defend themselves.”

            Rowen looked at Kayura, “Owning a sword without a permit is against the law today.”

            “I didn’t say we found swords.”

            “They will need some form of protection, even your sister Sage.”

            “Because they know us.”

            “Yes. And they might not know about Satsuki or that she’s your sister but let’s say they do. From an observing standpoint there are three pretty girls with you five frequently, all three look close to your age, and even with two being foreigners some attraction is obvious. Even if they are just friends, there is no reason for the enemy to think they might be more.”

            He leaned back, “Looks like it’s not just the five of you endanger this time.”


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

 

            They had arrived back in Ryo’s apartment an hour ago. No one talked about what had happened, they had just been sitting around the apartment trying to processes everything.

            While they had more information than when they started, they still felt like they had almost nothing. Even though that wasn’t true. No matter how any of them looked at it this did look like a revenge thing. Two apprentices coming after them to avenge their master. Yes it made sense, but what didn’t make sense is why it took a few years for this to come around.

            If their battle with Shikaisen was any indication how bad things could get…

            Ryo’s eyes darted to the blonde. Sage had already been stressed out before this happened and now… they had already gone after Cye, a failed attempt thank god, if they went after Sage next things would get bad for everyone. Not that Ryo was questioning his friend’s ability to fight under pressure-the swordsman excelled in that-it was the history he shared with the enemy that had Wildfire worried.

            _They cannot do to him what they did last time. He is too strong and protected for that_. A tiny, childish voice said.

            That voice startled him a little and when he looked at his friends he realized he was the only one who heard it. Ryo was about to ask when

            “How should we tell the girls about this?” Kento asked, “They need to know since they’ll be in danger too.”

            “We tell them what we were told. Rachel and Sil are big girls, and unfortunately, this is not the first time they’ve been in danger because of us. After what happened I’m sure they know they are in danger.” He looked to his roommate, “What about your sister?”

            Cye looked at his friend concerned, “Does she know what happened to you?”

            The blonde hesitated, “Satsuki knows that I was captured and that you guys came to save me. She knows Mia and Yuli got caught too but I didn’t tell her about anything else.” He closed his eyes, “It wasn’t and still isn’t something I like talking about. I will call her tomorrow and give her the heads up.”

            “I think I’m going to leave White Blaze with Rachel and Sileny,” Ryo announced.

            The eldest warrior looked at him, “Sorry Ryo, I’m taking the girls side on this, if you leave White Blaze with them that leaves you vulnerable.”

            “Cye, White Blaze was here in the apartment with me when I got kidnapped the last time.” He hated bringing that up even if it was true.

            “We were fighting against magical beings who used a sleeping spell on us!” Hardrock reminded him, “Also that bitch brought a bunch of hell hounds in with her.”

            “After what happened with Mia, Yuli, and Luna I’d rather Rachel and Sileny have a little more protection. Or maybe he could go look after Satsuki?”

            “She has roommates that have no clue who White Blaze is,” Sage said, “And I’d rather not advertise just who my baby sister is. And White Blaze stays with you we aren’t talking further about that.”

            Ryo went to argue when Cye put his hand up, the water warriors eyes fixed on his tall friend, “Rowen?” All eyes turned to him.

            The archer’s head was tilted a bit to the side, his brow furrowed.

            “..What is it?” Kento asked.

            “I’m not-”

            There was a whistling sound before it happened. A pair of daggers came flying through the window, shattering the glass into a valley of shards.  The troopers didn’t have time to wonder if they got cut before the enemy catapulted in on ropes.

            Kento was the first to stand and landed a sucker punch square in the face of one of the ninjas, sending the enemy back into the group. “Don’t these guys know how to use the front door?!”

            Ryo kicked another back, “Guess they knew I wasn’t going to answer.”

            One of them brought a sword down on Sage, who raised his arm to block it out of habit, forgetting about his street clothes. The gauntlets of his armor appeared at their own will, saving his arm from injury.

            _That’s new_ , he pushed back just as his roommate shot an arrow into the ninja’s arm.

            “How did they even know you lived here?!” Cye swung his trident, knocking another out the window.

            Ryo summoned his swords in time to block an attack from another. “Let’s ask them!”

            The archer shot another arrow, taking the face mask off one of them; his eyes widened. “I don’t think they can talk.” He kicked the ninja back onto the sofa.

             When the others turned to look, they saw the enemy had his mouth sewn shut and a milky tint to his eyes.

            Kento cursed loudly.

            “What the hell?!”

            Two took this change to try and spring on the ronin. Ryo and Sage saw them coming and knocked them back with their swords, sending them out the window. Cye looked out the window and saw on the rooftop across from them was a larger number of ninjas.

            “You’ve got to be kidding!”

            “We can’t fight them here, there’s people in the building.”

            “Then we take the fight to them,” Rowen looked at them. “They’ll keep coming if we don’t.”

            “Might as well,” Sage sighed.

            “Rowen will you clear us a path?”

            “On it,” He knocked his arrow, “Wanna help? The path will be larger.”

            Ryo held his katanas tightly, he could feel the flames dancing on the blades before he saw them, “Alright.”

            Strata loosed his arrow and watched as the flames from Wildfire darted after it, engulfing the arrow before both crashed into the crowed.

* * *

 

            They stood back watching from a safe distance as the fight unfolded before them. Yes, the report was correct, these armors where certainly not the ones from before. One of the figures held up a picture of the scene when three armors fought each other.

            “I dare say this set is much grander.”

            “Indeed.” Said the other figure, “Their power has easily doubled. See how easily they take down the dolls we sent?”

            “Was that not the point, brother? To draw them out this way and see for ourselves what they can do.”

            “Yes brother, it was. With this kind of power properly dissected we can break the gates with ease.”

            “This country-no-this world will not know what hit it.”

            The figure nodded, his eyes widened with excitement when he saw the warrior with the green armor create an attack of balled lightning. “The one our master caught still has that spark.”

            “No doubt he will expect to be caught first.”

            “No doubt,” the other agreed, “Taking all at once might be a fun challenge.”

            “Oh it would be. Lets toy with them a little longer, we’ve come so far and they took so long to find. We best enjoy ourselves.”

            “Then let the fun begin.”

* * *

 

            Kento winced as he hit the concrete wall the lead to the stairwell. That was going to bruise. Swinging his weapon he pulled stones from the building sending them at the enemy, knocking several back.

            A swirl of water sent another group back over the edge of the building, _Guys is it me or is this almost easy_?

            _No it’s not just you_ , Rowen glared at the ninjas around them. Honestly the Dynasty Solders put up more of a fight than these guys did.

            _I don’t like this_ , the Halo Ronin was holding his sword so hard that his hand was hurting.

            Ryo sent the last of the group off the edge with a fire ball, _Neither do I_. He looked around at the other buildings, trying to see if more might be hiding. It felt like he was being watched… then he saw the figures on the broadcast building a few blocks away. “Guys…”

            The rest of the group turned to look at the figures. It had to be the apprentices since there was only two of them. Both were too far away to make out any kind of distinguishing features however they looked like they wore kabuki theater costumes, rather elaborate ones at that.

            Out of habit the troopers got into a stance ready to really fight.

            One of the figures, the one with the bright red wig, held up his hand. Tendrils of magenta and black energy shot into the clouds, they danced in the clouds before striking the building the troopers stood on like lightening hitting a tree.

            Pain overcame the ronin and they dropped to their knees. This pain was intense, it felt like they were being pulled apart and squished together all at once. They couldn’t stop their screams if they had tried.

            Sage knew this pain and it sent a panic through him, especially when he saw the Sword of Halo glowing on its own. Sparks began to come off the blade and he noticed the other weapons of his friends were also glowing and reacting.

            _No! No don’t you dare!_ This had been how the former Halo Armor had reacted when they first captured him. _Someone make it stop_!

            _We are making it stop_. It was the childish voice he had heard before in that dream. _I’m really sorry Seiji but this is going to hurt a lot_.

            He felt the energy drain from him before thunderbolts catapulted into the air, joined by fire, raging water, shards of stone and the whirl of wind. The attacks joined together, spinning in the air, destroying the other energy then hitting the building completely destroying it. Sage felt his body shaking from the pain that hit him all at once, he fell to the side before losing consciousness.

* * *

 

            Everything was spinning. Everything hurt. A lot.

            Just what had happened back there? One minute he was already in excruciating pain then his whole body felt like it was on fire before the flames roared out of his katanas. Ryo didn’t recall trying to make an attack, nor had he told the others to join him.

            “The window had been shattered?”

            That voice. He knew that voice. Rachel’s voice.

            “When Kayura and I got here the window had been completely destroyed, she was able to repair it with the magic she’s learning. Good thing too, we don’t need to draw any more attention to this.” It was Dais talking.

            “All of them were out on the other building completely unconscious and as you can tell from their armors, it looks like it was a dog fight.” Kayura sounded upset. “We can’t tell if they are bleeding or inured.”

            “Well neither can I. Their armors have vanished for me in the past but they aren’t now. I won’t be able to know until they wake up, whenever that will be.”

            “How did you even know they were in trouble? Did they just tell you two and not Sekhmet or Dais?” Sileny was there?

            “I could see strange lights out this way from where I work. There are only two reasons I would see something like fireworks this way, and the festivals aren’t for another week, it had to be the guys.”

            “She told me and I called to Dais and Kayura,” Sekhmet added. “We told them we wouldn’t leave you two alone.”

            “It looks like the damage was mostly to the armor itself,” Cale commented, “I don’t see them bleeding anywhere or any evidence of cuts.”

            Ryo didn’t feel like he was bleeding anywhere, heck he was sure nothing cut him, not even the glass from the window. He hadn’t been hurt until the two apprentices struck, that was the only reason he was in pain right now. It felt like deep muscle pain and he wasn’t sure that Rachel could do anything for that.

            Someone lifted him up and took off his helmet, “Hand me the pillow,” Rachel said. Damn it why couldn’t he move yet? When she set him back down he knew instantly it was the pillow from his bed. At least it was softer than his helmet.

            Sileny said, “Something doesn’t make sense though, if the enemy did knock them out then why didn’t they take them prisoner? They are out cold it would be the perfect chance.”

            “It would yes, we’ll have to wait for the answer.” The warlord of darkness stated, “A missed opportunity.”

            “Waiting for them to wake up might take a while,” Sekhmet pointed out. “I think I’ll go scout the area to see if I can find anything.”

            “I’ll go with you,” Kayura said.

            “Please be careful,” Rachel urged.

            “We’ll be careful, Rachel, I promise,” Kayura gave her friend a reassuring smile.

            He finally willed his eyes to open a little. Rachel was keeling down beside him, his helmet in her lap. Behind her he could make out the figures of the warlords, Sileny, and Cye laying on the ground. Taking a deep quiet breath, he ignored the pain running through him as he moved his arm and put his hand on her knee.

            Rachel’s head snapped down to look at him, sky blue eyes wide with fear and worry, “Ryo.”

            That killed him, “Are the others here?” His voice sounded way too raspy, like he’d been at a concert shouting all night.

            “Everyone is here and counted for,” She put her hand on his forehead. Good no fever, “What the hell happened?”

            On the other side of him, he heard White Blaze give a soft growl before nudging his other arm. “We got ambushed… but these ninjas aren’t that strong. The Dynasty Solders could probably beat them without breaking a sweat. We saw the apprentices.”

            Dais stepped closer, “You did?”

            “Yeah.. they wore costumes like noah actors or-”

            “By chance did one of them wear a huge white wig?” Sileny asked.

            Ryo turned to look at her, however her eyes were staring at the window. Following her gaze he saw floating out the repaired window a few feet away was one of the apprentices; his face was covered by a malicious mask. Wildfire sat up and pulled the younger girl closer to him, his arm around her waist protectively, his other hand found one of his katanas.

            She gasped when he pulled her over, one hand gripped the helmet in her lap and the other grabbed his arm. But her eyes never left the figure outside.

            The Warlords got in a stance, Cale making sure he was close to Sileny, not caring that the black tiger was also there.

            The figure outside didn’t move to enter, instead he gave a deep bow. “My brother and I thank you for that spectacular display. You five are truly something fantastic.” He stood upright then vanished in a flash.

            Display? “Oh… Son of a bitch.”

            “Ryo?”

            He looked at the auburn haired girl, then at the others, “They were testing us.”


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

 

            They had been at the dojo since morning, Kento and Ryo at least, Rachel only showed up a few hours ago for her lessons.

            Ryo gave her a tired smile, “You’re swings getting a lot better.”

            Rachel handed him a water bottle, “Thanks. I’ve been practicing the last few days.” She looked out the open door of the dojo that lead into the garden, “I hope Kento’s parents don’t take the news too hard. They worried about him so much last time…especially after you guys got caught.”

            He held the bottle but didn’t take his eyes off her, “Rachel I’ve been meaning to talk to you about what we found out.”

            “Here I was starting to think it was going to stay a secret after the other night.” She gave him a serious look, “Tell me what the onmyoji told you.”

            “His name is Noboru,” Ryo leaned back against the wall, “He knew Shikaisen personally.”

            “Go on.”

            “Noboru called Shikaisen power hungry, always thinking they should be the ones running things. He said that Shikaisen found out the Date clan had the Halo armor when a member of the clan came to see the emperor. After he went to the other onmyoji saying the Date clan was unworthy of such a power, he was arrested along with two of his underling and they were banished.”

            “Well that’s more than what we had before. But why banished? The Date clan was a very significant supporter to the emperors for a long time. That’s a big insult to say they aren’t worthy of something, I’m surprised they weren’t executed.”

            “Really they should have been,” Ryo agreed. “We’re sure those guys in Kabuki get-up are his underlings, out for revenge.”

            “So you guys didn’t see them in America?”

            He shook his head, “…Rachel we think you and Sileny are in danger this time. I mean real danger.”

            The younger girl shifted her weight, “We figured that part out on our own.”

            “When Sileny and Cye-”

            “No it was the other night,” she corrected him. “The way you reacted when you saw him was a dead giveaway.”

            “I was afraid he was going to hurt you.”

            “I know that.” Though she wasn’t sure what he could have done after being struck by an electric like pulse of energy. It had only been today that she had been him move right again. “Sileny and I will be careful, but you guys need to be careful too. You five are the ones they are after and if it really is revenge then your lives are in more danger than last time.”

            _She’s right_ , a small child like voice in his mind told him. “Yeah but-”

            “Ryo. I know what happened to Mia, Yuli and to Luna. You have my word that we will be careful.”

            He opened his mouth to say something, yet when he didn’t find the words he closed his mouth.

            The doors slid open and Kento walked in. “That could have gone better.”

            “What happened?”

            “Trying to explain to my parents what’s going on and expecting my siblings not to ease drop is impossible in this house. I don’t know why I still think I can just have an adult conversation with my folks.”

            Rachel cringed. She still wasn’t sure if Kento had any idea how badly this hit his family last time when he had not only been fighting but gone missing too. And given the bit of history with this enemy… “Well I’m sure you understand why they are worried.”

            “My parents are worried-rightly so-what burns me is that my siblings are pissed off. Like I’m the one who choses to have these things happen. Okay, yes I did chose to take the armor, but I don’t need all my siblings attacking me for it. It’s not like I’m wearing a sign that says come and get me or anything.”

            Ryo wasn’t sure what to say. Only his father knew that he was a Ronin and he hadn’t even told him about this yet; he was hoping he wouldn’t have to.

            “Kento just.. just give them a couple of days. The last fight hit them hard and Sileny and I could be partly to blame for that.”

            He gave a slow nod then let out a sigh.

            “If it makes you feel any better, Satasuki gave Sage hell too.” Rachel had gotten a phone call from her friend, one, to make sure she was okay and two, to vent about her brother. Part of the anger was something Rachel could understand but she also wondered if Satsuki or Kento’s siblings really saw how much their frustration wasn’t helping this already bad situation.

            Cringing he replied, “It does and it doesn’t. Sage went through hell and back last time, so I feel bad for him if she really did give him another piece of hell.”

            “Sage needs a serious vacation when this is over. Between his grandfather wanting to get him a match, this enemy, and now his sister.” Ryo shook his head. Times like this made his glad he was an only child and not the heir to the family.

            “I couldn’t agree more. I can’t imagine what I’d do right now in his shoes.” Shaking his head he looked at his friends, “Anyways let change the subject, what are you two up to?”

            “I was telling Rachel what Noboru told us.”

            “Oh.” He looked at her, “You alright?”

            “I don’t know yet,” She answered, “I’m a lot more worried about the five of you, maybe even the nine of you. You guys fought their master, but if the apprentices are their own masters now, and they can do things like the other night, that’s scary. What exactly happened when they attacked you five? You still haven’t told me.”

            “It’s kinda a blur,” Kento admitted. “One minute I was standing, the next I doubled over in pain and thought I was going to pass out. I know we attacked as a group but I don’t remember calling for the attack.”

            “Neither do I but…” He trailed off.

            “What is it?”

            “Before the counter attack I heard a voice in my head telling me this was going to hurt but it would be alright. Now I don’t mean like when your conscious tells you something, this voice was actually talking to me.” It felt good to finally say that. “I’ve heard it before and-”

            “Have you been hearing it for a while now? Does it sound like a kid?”

            “You’re hearing it too?”

            “You’re both hearing a child voice talking to you?” Rachel blinked, that was a new weird.

            They nodded.

            White Blaze stood up from his spot in the corner, his ears twitching. He didn’t like that sound. He slinked across the room, stopping in front of Rachel, his eyes glued to the door.

            “White Blaze?”

            Kento looked at the door, glaring annoyed, “Oh was someone ease dropping again?” He slid the doors of the dojo open, fully expecting to see any of his siblings staring back at him. No one was there. “Huh?”

            The tiger heard the sound again. He lowered his head and growled.

            All three of them knew that growl.

            Ryo looked at the tiger then to the girl he was protecting.

            She gave the warrior a small nod.

            Kento moved into a defensive stance.

            White Blaze snapped his head in the other direction just as a group of ninjas came crashing through the back wall. Debris went flying all over the room; Ryo was just quick enough to pull Rachel over to him before she got hurt. Holder her waist, he spun with her and brought up one of his Wildfire swords to block an attack.

            If he had been mad before he was infuriated now, the Ronin of Hardrock felt his armor appear around him as he swung his arm sending the boulders and rocks from the garden flying through the open door; knocking several of the attacks back out the hole they created. _Mom’s gonna kill me when she sees this mess_.

            Ryo kicked another back, “White Blaze help Rachel out.” He let go of her as his armor appeared on him.

            The tiger darted between two attackers before skidding to a halt beside the girl who, kicked back another ninja.

            “Good kick Rachel!” Kento grinned at her while sending another back, “And you creeps get the hell out of my home!”

            Rachel was half way to the door with the tiger when another group popped out of the flooring, blocking their path. She gave a yelp, tried to stop but only skidded across the slippery floor, falling on her back she missed the knife that was thrown at her. White Blaze crashed into two other ninjas, knocking them into the garden. The girl moved just as the one who threw the knife plunged a spear down into the floor. Glaring, she double kicked the guy back into the garden, watching him fall on the other two who tried getting up.

            There was a searing pain that shot through his arm, he’d been hit by something. The swordsman could feel the blood begin to trick down the back of his arm, he shoved his attacker back out the hole in the wall. Biting the hilt of his sword he reached around and pulled the knife out.

This was bad. That knife had gone in deep.

It was more instinct than will that made Ryo lift his injured arm to block an attack from another. Pain shot through his arm again; he wavered, lucky for him Kento saw it. The Ronin of Hardrock spun on a dime, sending the other flying.

“You okay man?”

“I will be-Rachel!”

“Hey get away from her!”

The two sprang across the room and knocked the trio back. Ryo swung his sword at one of them, the blade sizzled as it went through one of the attackers; at the moment of impact the ninja turned into a black dust that quickly evaporated.

“What the hell?”

            “It’s like they don’t want us to leave the room,” Rachel could hear the blood pumping in her ears, there was a stinging pain in her left leg. _Or more like they just attack everyone they see_. She saw Ryo’s wound then another sight caught her eyes. “Oh my god.” She paled.

            The ronin followed her gaze.

Kento felt his heart jump into his throat. Across the garden peering around the corner were his two youngest siblings, Mei Ryu and Chun Fa. All the noise from the fight must have caught there attention. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the enemy moving below.

“ ** _RUN_**!” He shouted at his siblings.

The siblings gasped then turned to run, only to come face to face with a ninja. Chun Fa gave a yelp-White Blaze came out of nowhere and pined the attacker down. Rachel darted over, grabbed the two kids by the arms and ran back into the house, slamming the door behind them.

_No more heart attacks today please_! The younger ronin prayed to whoever would listen. Swinging his weapon be brought up the rocks from the garden, making them spin around him and Ryo so fast you could hardly see them.

Heat started to emanate off the Swords of Wildfire as the two ronin stood back to back. _Sure you want to do this attack, Kento_?

_The place is already trashed, just don’t burn it down. Don’t know about you but I don’t wanna explain this to the authorities_.

_Alright then let’s get these guys out of here_! Ryo made a wall of fire around them, careful not to touch the floor or ceiling with the flames. Kento spun the rocks in the flames as they both watched the ninjas inching closer. When they came into range the Ronin of Hardrock shoot the stones out hitting each of his targets. A few of them disintegrated the others fell back until they got blasted with the fire that Ryo sent after them.

When the smoke cleared the two Ronin where alone.

“I had been thinking about giving the dojo a makeover,” Mama remarked as she surveyed the damage that had been done. It was rather remarkable and not in a good way. “No time like the present I suppose.”

He felt awful, “I’m sorry Mama…”

“For what? I understand it wasn’t your fault. I’m just glad things didn’t turn out any worse than they did.” She looked at her oldest boy, “It’s just a room, Kento. Wooden floors, lights, doors, these can be replaced. You and your friends are another matter entirely.”

Cye put a hand on his best friend’s shoulder, “We’ll help with the repairs however we can, Mama.”

She smiled, “I appreciate that Cye. Maybe we can even expand it?” Looking from the former dojo to the two warriors she said, “Are you sure you’re not hurt, son?”

“I’m fine, it’s Ryo I’m worried about. And where’s Mei Ryu and Chun Fa?”

“Your father is talking to them inside.”

“They disintegrated?” Sage repeated.

Ryo winced while Rachel wrapped up his arm, “Yeah. First they turned into a fine black dust then the dust just faded away.”

“Doesn’t sound like the ones we fought the other night.” Rowen remarked.

“No these guys meant business.”

“What about Mei Ryu and Chun Fa?”

Rachel answered, “They heard the sounds of the fight and came over to see what was going on. Other than getting the fright of their lives, they’re okay.” She finished tending to Ryo, “I’m not sure how well you’ll be able to use that arm, Ryo, that knife went in pretty deep.”

“I can fight with one hand, I’m just not as good at it.”

“I’ll help you with that,” The blonde swordsman said.

The door opened and the group was joined by Kento and Cye, “Well good news is Mama’s not mad.”

“How’s your arm, Ryo?” Cye looked at him.

“Thanks to Rachel it’s better than it was.”

She smiled, “You guys are giving me a lot of experience.”

Rowen leaned off the wall, “How long do you think it’ll take to heal?”

“I’m not sure a few weeks, maybe a month? Muscle injuries are different from concussions or broken bones. And one thing I am noticing is your wounds heal faster than the average person. You probably have your armors to thank for that.”

_One of the few perks_. Ryo thought. He knew what he had signed up for when he accepted this new armor. The fabric and leather under gear was a nice change from strictly armor, but it did leave them a little more venerable.

“Speaking of concussions,” The china man’s eyes fixed on Rachel, “I saw that fall you took.”

“I didn’t land on my head, I’m okay.” Though the stinging in her left thigh told her differently. She stood, “I’m going to go put this stuff back and wash my hands.” White Blaze followed her out of the room.

“You sure you’re okay, Ryo?” Cye asked.

“I’ll be fine,” he looked at his friends, “What about you Kento?”

“Oh I’m still plenty pissed off. Not only do those guys attack us but they have the _nerve_ to do it here at my family’s home. Two of my siblings almost got caught up in it, Rachel was there, you’re hurt, and the dojo is destroyed. I swear the next time I see those fuc-”

“Kento you’re making the dishes spin.” Cye interrupted.

“Wha?” Sure enough the dishes that had been on the table and the ceramics in the display cabinets all floated and spun in the air. He was able to calm down just enough that everything went back to its proper place.

_Every time we get upset our powers affect the things around us_. The archer stole a quick glance at his roommate. _It’s amazing there hasn’t been a power outage yet_.

“If they’re going after those around us then maybe we should rethink keeping Rachel and Sileny close?” The Ronin of Torrent suggested. “They’ve both been caught in this cross fire once already.”

“Rachel was able to fend off the ones that went after her. And like they’ve both pointed out to us, they don’t have to be right next to us for something to happen. At least if they are with us when something happens we have a better chance of stopping them from getting hurt.”

“Rowen, why don’t you tell them about that experiment you and Sileny are doing?” the blonde looked at his friend.

Ryo looked over, “Experiment?”

“I was talking with Sil and got an idea. We talked about what happened with Haytie when she brought up Sekhmet’s swords. He was able to tell where the girl were because they each had a sword of his.”

“We don’t have weapons to spare,” Hardrock stated, “And if we did it’s not like Rachel could walk down Shibuya with one of Ryo’s swords on her belt without getting into serious trouble with the cops.”

“ _You_ don’t have to spare. I do.” Rowen held out a hand summoning one of his arrows, “Sil’s got one of my arrow heads with her.”

Torrent blinked, “Is it working? Do you know where she is?”

He smiled, “I know exactly where she is.”

“Hm.” Ryo looked to the door. _Rachel._

Rachel was happy she kept a few extra bandages in her purse. How she got the cut on her thigh she didn’t know, nor was she about to tell the guys. Firstly it wasn’t a bad cut, second, they had enough on their minds right now. She finished washing her hands then stepped out of the bathroom, only to come face to face with Kento’s mother.

“You alright?”

“I’m okay, Mama. How are Mei Ryu and Chun Fa?”

“A bit shaken up but they’ll live. I wanted to thank you Rachel.”

“For what?”

“For bringing them in out of danger. For everything you do to help my son and his friends.” She gave the young girl a warm smile, “You do a lot for them. So does Sileny, doesn’t she?”

Returning the smile she replied, “We do what we can to help them. Kento didn’t get injured.”

“Not this time. I know you act as their doctor. How will Ryo be?”

“His wound isn’t infected I’m sure it’ll heal in time.”

Mama nodded, “I’ll be seeing less of you until the dojo is repaired I imagine. I ask that you continue to help my son and his friends.”

“I’ll help them in whatever ways I can as long as they will let me.”

Another smile, “That gives me some peace of mind. I know they faced something like this before. My poor brother’s restaurant. At least we just lost a dojo.”

“They went to his restaurant to get Mia and Yuli to use as bait.”

“I know. Mia and Yuli are still important to those young men too. You and Sileny are important too. You especially are important to Ryo.”

That last part caught Rachel completely off guard, “What?”

“Oh come now, I see the way you two look at one another.”

“Mama I see what you’re trying to do but now is not the time. There’s nothing going on between us.”

“I know that too. More is the pity. Unspoken things like that should not be that way forever. You’ll both miss out.”

Rachel shifted her weight, “It’s complicated.”

“If love was easy more people would have it.”

She felt White Blaze softly nudge her leg.

None of them were aware that others had heard their conversation.


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

 

“Kabuki masks?” Noboru repeated, “Of all things to wear.”

Sekhmet nodded, “Would there be a reason for this? Part of some strange ritual or something?” Stanger things happened.

“Only reason I see is trying to hide their faces. Which only makes sense if they are persons your friends have already seen.” He gazed up at the sky.

“A logical reason. One I don’t think they will be happy to hear.”

“Bad news is bad news, no matter how it’s dressed.”

The warlord nodded, that was a very good point.

“Tell me, Sekhmet, apart from these mortal girls are there any other friends the Ronin have?”

“Not to my knowledge. If the apprentices really are spying on them while preparing to attack… they each hold a job of some sort. Working in the same place would be a good place to observe and quietly blend in unseen. I hear Rowen is attending a university-something about being a writer-any of those students could be a spy. Sileny goes to the same school as him but for art. Kento and Ryo both work in a restaurant, Sage teaches in a dojo, plenty of spying opportunities there. Cye is the only one who works alone in his small shop, but it is on a busy street.”

Noboru nodded as he tapped the ash out of his pipe, “I don’t like the way the stars here are lined. Perhaps it’s time I return to the Mortal Realm and see if the stars there show anything better.”

“When was the last time you were in the Mortal Realm?”

“Within a few years of you and your three friends arriving. I’m aware the realm has changed and evolved significantly.” He thought, “Perhaps one of you would be willing to accompany me?”

“Alright. Where do you want to go?”

“Take me to the place you found them the other night. I want to see something.”

* * *

 

Rachel returned to the room a few minutes later, “I should go soon, Sileny’s probably waiting.”

Rowen looked at her, “You want a ride over there?”

“No I can walk, I need the air.”

“Rachel,” Ryo was looking at her unusually serious, “I’d like White Blaze to take with you. We’ve been attacked twice and I’m not blind, I know you got hurt.”

Kento blinked and looked at her, finally catching the bloodstain on her pants, “Rachel. Why didn’t you-”

“I didn’t say anything because I was far more concerned about Ryo bleeding out through the hole in his arm.” She said a little more irritated than she intended, “As for White Blaze, he’s more than welcome to walk me home.”

He didn’t completely like that but gave a nod, “Okay. But are you alright?”

“Clean cut it won’t even leave a mark,” she assured him. White Blaze walked over to her, but she was still looking at Ryo and Kento, “I think you two should talk about those kid voices now that you’re all together. If you two are hearing them I bet everyone else is.” Looking them all over she added, “I’ll tell Sileny what went down and Kayura is going to come over to our house tonight so I’ll let her know too.”

Sage looked right at Ryo and Kento.

“Be careful, Rachel,” Cye looked at her.

“I always am.” She turned with White Blaze following her out the door.

Rowen looked from Sage to the others, “What’s this about a kids voice?” He had a good idea what it was.

Kento explained what he and Ryo briefly talked about before the attack.

“I’ve heard it,” Cye said, “I heard it before we did whatever that counter attack was the other night. I thought it was just my imaginations but if we’re hearing the same thing…”

“Rowen? Sage?”

“I’ve heard it.”

Sage hesitated, “Yes. I think I’ve seen it too.”

“Seen it?”

The swordsman explained to them the dream he had a few nights ago, “I have no idea what the little fox is or where it came from but it was speaking with the voice I’ve been hearing.”

“I haven’t seen anything like that,” Ryo admitted, “Sounds like you’ve seen a fennec fox. They’re supposed to be the smallest foxes in the world.”

“A fennec fox…? Why a fennec fox…” He looked to his roommate.

He shrugged, “Sage told me about this after he had the dream. I guessed it was his armor trying to reach out. Though I admit I’ve no clue why an animal is the form it would take-if it is the armor at all.”

“I’ve seen a room like that,” the potter admitted, “Not exactly like it, I had lanterns instead of candles and I swear I could hear water somewhere like a waterfall or crashing waves.”

“You see a fennec fox or any other animal?”

He shook his head.

No one else had seen the room besides those two.

“Does anyone else know about it? I mean you sister or..?”

Sage shook his head, “Just you guys. I’m not even sure how I’d tell this to Satsuki, especially right now with her being so angry.”

“Why is she so mad at you about this?” Cye asked.

“I don’t think she’s mad at me so much as the situation. Or maybe that’s just what I hope. Honestly right now I’m not sure what to think when it comes to all this or my sister’s reaction.”

“I feel your pain,” Kento looked at him. “I told my family about it all tonight. My parents are being parents but my siblings are pissed, now probably terrified too.”

Cye felt for his too friends. He had told his mother and sister about this, while he knew both were worried beyond words they certainly hadn’t handed him his head in any way-shape-or form. Maybe that was because they lived about five hundred miles away and didn’t see the direct affects the battles had on him. The same couldn’t be said for Sage or Kento.

“I was going to ask Sileny,” the blonde cut through the silence that had fallen, “Figured that if she didn’t know off the top of her head she would at least have a book to tell her or know where to start looking.”

Ryo blinked, “Why didn’t you ask?”

“I didn’t get the chance yet. I was about to ask when Rachel called the house to say what happened.”

“Why didn’t the two of you reach out to one of us?” Cye asked.

“Dude it happened way too fast.”

Ryo nodded in agreement. He hadn’t even thought about calling for them until after it was over. Everything about this rubbed him the wrong way entirely.

* * *

 

Sileny stared at her friend, “Will they be okay? Are _you_ okay?”

“Shaken and well stirred,” she admitted freely to her best friend, “I somehow managed to keep my head around them but not long after leaving…” she gripped Black Blaze’s fur feeling a bit ashamed of crying on the way to meet her friend. Rachel wasn’t even sure why she had started crying. “Kento didn’t get hurt at all. Ryo will be okay, I’m just not sure how well he’ll be able to fight with two swords. He can lift his arm right now just fine. When he puts his armor on; between the weight of his armor and whatever his katana weight I’m not sure how he’ll be in a fight.”

“Sage can give him some tip’s I’m sure.” Kayura let in.

“He did offer.” She gave a nod.

The older girl patted her friends leg softly, “Come on let me see that scratch-Don’t give me that look, you’ve seen my bruises and scratches.”

 “Rachel?”

“…” Reluctantly she stood and revealed the long cut along her outer thigh, “I can say it’s not deep.”

Kayura slid over and put her hands on the wound, “No it’s not deep,” she agreed. Not deep, though it is long and still red if not a bit swollen. “I don’t think it will leave a scar.”

Sileny saw her friend frown, “Did you tell them you got hurt?”

“I didn’t have to, Ryo already knew. He didn’t press the issue thank gods.” She pulled her pants back up.

“I wish we could arm you two somehow,” dark blue eyes darted to the Swedish girl, “Besides an arrow head.”

Sileny lifted the arrow head off her chest, she had tied it around a cord after Rowen gave it to her, “I happen to like my new necklace thank you.” Her voice had a hint of sarcasm. Turning to Rachel she added, “I’m surprised he didn’t give you one.”

“He didn’t even mention that he gave you one. Maybe he just forgot?” _Not sure that I’d want one anyways_.

“It’s possible.”

“Sileny I’m not sure it’s a good idea to have that,” Kayura pointed to the arrow head, “I can sense the power on it so I’m sure the enemy can too.”

“I can’t really say I’m all that ecstatic about it either, Kayura. Rowen got the idea from Sekhmet.”

“Sekhmet? When was he here? Last time I saw him he was talking to Noboru.”

“No I mean, back when we got swept up in Haytie’s castle and Sekhmet gave Rachel and I one of his swords. He knew where we were because we had a weapon of his.”

“I get it now. Still for you to wear that…”

“Well when Rowen gets that look on his face and you know you’re just not going to win, there’s little point in wasting my energy arguing.”

Kayura gave a nod having been there herself with the archer. “I still think you should have something else.”

Black Blaze scowled at the lady warrior, _They can’t carry around weapons Kayura. Carrying swords or any sort of blade has been illegal here for a long, long, time now_.

_I’m well aware of that_ , she looked at the tiger then back to her friends, “I’ll look around when I go back home later.”

“Okay, just don’t look too hard on our account.”

“Rachel, you and Sileny are my best friends.” She told them, “I will look hard on your account. You two made an effort to really become friends to me and to my guys after the whole mess with Haytie. Let me do this for you.”

“Alright, alright.” The older girl raised her hands in defeat. “So what do you have in mind then? We can’t really carry around weapons.”

“Says the girl wearing one around her neck.”

“Yes, so say I.”

“Really you two,” Rachel shook her head, “Kayura do you think there’s like amulets or whatever we could wear that might act as a shield?”

“Against something this powerful, I really don’t know. I’m going to have to look.” She rubbed her forehead, “I can’t believe I’m about to say this part but, if the city was abandoned or all citizens imprisoned that would be a better situation.”

“Would you care to elaborate on that?” The older girl stared at her friend.

“From a battle stand point and for your protection it would be better. You could walk around with weapons and the guys could be in their armor and no one would have to worry about this whole super hero thing being given away. The fight could be taken to the enemy and no citizens would be hurt.”

“I don’t think I’d feel safe so much as more venerable,” the auburn haired girl said.

“I agree with her.”

Their friend gave a nod.

Black Blaze twitched an ear and stood up straight.

“Black Blaze…?”

“It’s okay, Rachel. Sekhmet just brought Noboru to Tokyo, Black Blaze is just sensing that energy.”

“Noboru is the sorcerer they went to meet in the Neather Realm, right?”

“Yeah, Ryo told me about that earlier. Didn’t Rowen or Sage tell you anything about that?”

“No. We talked about the battle mostly, then Rowen gave me this,” she held up the arrowhead again, “I think Sage was going to ask me something but then you called.”

“You sure he was going to ask something and not say anything to Rowen about that arrow?”

“No idea, he just looked like he had something on his mind.”

 “The same thoughtful drowning look he’s had since this started?”

Azure eyes looked at her guest, “More like a deep troubled almost afraid to ask sort of look. I haven’t seen that look on Sage’s face often but it usually deal with his armor and he won’t ask whatever it is until he bursts.” Sileny shook her head, “Honestly I love him like a brother but I wish he was just better at handling things when it came to his armor even if the last time he faced something like this it ended bad.”

“I wonder…” Rachel looked at her friend, “Kayura, you’re armor.. the armors that Dais, Sekhmet, and Cale wear.”

“What about them?”

“Do they talk to you? The armors I mean. Do they talk to you?”

Kayura was clearly taken a back. “What? No. What brings this on?”

“Before the attack Kento and Ryo both said they’ve been hearing voices like children talking to them on occasion. And before they launched that counter attack they heard these voices telling them it was going to be okay. I told them to talk about it with the other three before I left.”

“You think their armors are talking to them?” The blue haired girl shook her head, “Rachel I don’t know if that’s possible. The armors are magic but for them to have a mind of their own?”

“Why wouldn’t it be possible?” The Swedish girl asked, “Don’t give me that look, I want to know why you think that. It’s been what about five years since they got their armors and look how little we still know about them. If they have a subconscious of their own or something I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.”

“I would be shocked if this was true.”

Rachel looked to Black Blaze, “What do you think?”

_I agree with Sileny_. He replied and Kayura relayed his thoughts.

“Look when we see whoever we see next of those five, lets ask them about it.”


	10. Chapter Ten

**A Part**

Chapter Ten

* * *

 

 

It always felt so strange to come home after a battle. Especially after the attack here the other day.

Ryo rubbed the spot on his arm where he was stabbed. The pain killers wore off half way home and now his whole arm screamed at him. He had been bruised, broken, and cut before but not like this. At this point he’d likely be going to the hospital as soon as he figured out what he’d say. Well he could go now, it was pretty late and dark, he could say he was the victim of a random stabbing.

White Blaze had followed him inside, his eyes never leaving his master.

The ronin leader walked over to the sofa and was going to sit for a while to gather his very jumbled thoughts, when he spotted two familiar figures on the rooftop across the way illuminated by the moonlight. Sekhmet was down there with Noboru, who was motioning to the direction of the building they had destroyed.

_Sekhmet_? Ryo called out.

The Warlord of Venom turned and looked up right at Ryo’s window. He must have said something to Noboru because he also looked up towards the window. A moment later both figures had vanished.

“What the?”

“So this is a modern home?”

Ryo cursed loudly as he spun to see his two new guests. Sekhmet looked just as surprised to be there as Ryo did. Noboru on the other hand was fascinated by his new surroundings.

“How spacious. Separate bedroom, the kitchen is a good size too, is that a large ice box?” He gestured to the refrigerator, “I’ve heard of those and oh is this what the bathrooms look like now? Much better than the old chamber pots I remember.”

_You have no idea_. “Sorry to show up unannounced,” Sekhmet said, “I told Noboru about the attack from the other night and he insisted on coming to see the site.”

“You mean the building we destroyed?”

“The same,” the sorcerer turned back to Wildfire. “For the five of you to create such an attack from this distance that only leveled one building, takes a great deal of calculation given the sheer power of your armors. Yet I’m told you five didn’t plan that attack at all?”

Ryo shook his head, “We didn’t even know we could do that.”

“Interesting…Hm?” He looked at White Blaze for a moment then back to Ryo, “You were attacked today?”

“Yes.”

“Are you alright?” Sekhmet asked.

“Not really.”

Noboru took a step forward, “What happened? Please spare no detail no matter how small you think it is.”

The ronin sat and motioned for the others to do the same. Ryo told them everything that happened during the attack, the fight, getting stabbed, Kento’s siblings getting the crap scared out of them, and Rachel’s injury. “The weirdest part is that when struck them they… turned to a black dust before just vanishing. I haven’t seen anything do that before.”

“And you’re sure Rachel is really alright?”

Looking to the warlord he answered, “I think so, I trust her judgment.”

He didn’t look convinced, “Noboru could these weapons do harm to her? A delayed reaction.”

“No.” He waved his hand dismissively, “Rachel sounds like a lovely normal girl so this wound she has won’t kill her. It’s you,” he gazed at Ryo, “That worries me. Let me see your wound I want to inspect it. If there is harmful magic I should be able to remove it or at least lessen the damage.”

_There is no magic_. The childish voice said.

“There isn’t any,” Ryo said before he could stop himself. “It would have affected me by now.”

Noboru raised his brow, “You sure about that?”

“I recall that part of the story, however my understanding is Manticores are creatures designed to kill instantly. Cye’s armor and your care are what kept him alive until Sage got the antidote.” He turned his attention back to Ryo, “I understand you can be very stubborn. I want to see the wound.”

Ryo took his jacket off with a hiss and a grimace. The bandage was still wrapped around his arm; he could still see were his blood had soaked through earlier. Putting his jacket on his lap he said, “I’m thinking of going to the hospital-just not sure what I’ll say.”

“You’re friend Rachel bandaged this?” Noboru knelt down to examine the bandaging.

“She did.”

“She’s a very good doctor, a hospital might be a good idea if you are a normal person but let’s see what’s under these bindings.” Before Ryo could protest, the sorcerer unwrapped the bandages to reveal the wound.

When the fresh air hit his wound Ryo thought he was going to go through the ceiling. It was still red, swollen, and hadn’t closed yet; thankfully it wasn’t bleeding anymore.

Sekhmet edged closer to inspect the wound, “Rachel never stops amazing me with her skills. Clean, disinfected, this doesn’t even look like you got it today.” What he wouldn’t have given for a healer of Rachel’s skills at his side back during the Sengoku…

“That’s because the wound is healing faster than that of a normal person,” Noboru pointed out. “You should be back to normal in five to ten days. There’s no magic in the wound, the blade that did this must have been normal. No need to see a doctor.”

Ryo nodded, “Wish it didn’t hurt so much.”

“I can’t do anything about this pain but if you have fresh bandages-what’s this now?” the sorcerer looked at the white tiger curiously. He had brought over a basket with clear bags that had odd writing on them.

“It’s a first aid kit. I’ll help you with this, Noborou.”

_How many guys does it take to do this?_ The childish voice asked. _Rachel did this way faster_.

_Two from the looks of things_ , Ryo replied. “…Hey Noboru can I ask you something? It’s about my armor.”

“I can’t promise that I will have the answer.”

“I’ve heard about magical objects being able to gain a conscious of their own. Do you think it’s possible our armors can do that?”

The sorcerer slowly looked up at him, “Come again? Are you asking me if your armor can gain a mind of its own?” When the ronin gave him a slow nod, he thought for a few minutes before answering, “It might be possible. There are more than enough tsukumogami to prove such a thing can happen, however I’ve never heard of a full suit of armor gaining a personality like that. Why do you ask?”

“Since we got the armors, there are times when I can hear a child’s voice talking to me. Over the last couple of day’s I’ve been hearing it more.”

Noboru looked to Sekhmet who shook his head, “Interesting. And your friends?”

“They hear the child voice too but it sounds different to them. Kento said the voice he hears will even speak to him in Chinese.”

Sekhmet’s eyebrows rose, “Have you asked Sileny about this? She might have the answer in her horde of mythology books.”

“Not yet. Rachel’s probably told her about that by now.”

“Rachel knows?”

“She was in the dojo with Kento and I when we started talking about it.”

“Hmm. Ryo I think this is a question to ask that child voice directly. If it is your armor truly talking to you this will be the first time I’ve ever heard of such a thing.” Standing up he added, “I want to go take a closer look at that building you five demolished, see if there are any magical traces left from your enemy.”

“Magical traces?”

He looked at Ryo and gave a nod, “Yes. You should focus on doing what you need to do to use your arm again in battle… And I have a request to ask.”

* * *

 

How long it took him to get this deep in meditation was anyone’s guess. Or maybe he had just outright fallen asleep trying.

Sage stood in the small traditional room. The candle light was brighter than before and there looked to be more candles. Outside the paper windows he could hear what sounded like wind rustling in the trees-if trees existed in this place-and he was picking up the faint smell of something sweet. Turning to his right he saw it. The jinbaori of Halo hung in the same place he had seen it before.

But no sign of the fox.

“Where are you?” the swordsman asked allowed.

No answer.

Sighing he walked over to the jinbaori, he’d worn it many times over his armor but have never seen it up close before. He took the fabric in his hand, he had expected it to feel like silk but this wasn’t the right texture for that. Whenever he had felt it in the past he was still wearing his under armor, but now feeling it with his bare hand it felt like was a similar material.

“It’s more durable than silk.”

Sage startled and looked down to see the little fox sitting beside his foot. “You are here.”

The ears on the fox folded back like it was in trouble, “I’m sorry I scared you last time, Seiji. I wasn’t trying too I just thought it was past time you and I met. I mean really met.”

He took a step back to study the little fox. The sandy blonde fur and the green eyes, the same shade of green as his armor. “You’re... you’re the spirit of the armor, aren’t you?”

The fox nodded, “I am. Congrats you’re the first one to really figure that out, Hardrock would tell you that you get a gold star on your forehead, but you don’t like stickers.”

“How do you know that I don’t like stickers?”

“I can see your memories. I’ve been carefully looking at them for a while now… I know it sounds like I was snooping, but you’re my master, you’re the one who wears me, I want to know as much about you as I possibly can to help protect you better. We have a hard thankless job to perform until we die one day.”

“So you saw the memory of the time my big sister put the stickers in my hair.”

“That was so rude of her!” He fur stood up then he calmed down, “I can also see what you see and hear what you hear. We all can.” The little spirit stood up, “I promise you that Wildfire is doing everything it can to help Ryo heal faster.”

“Help him heal faster…? You all can do that?” Sage didn’t know why this surprised him so much but it did.

“Yes. We each can only heal so much so fast though. For example, I can heal your nervous system faster than the other four can heal the nervous systems of their masters. But when you hurt your bones it makes me longer to heal you than it does for Hardrock to heal Shu.” The fox gave what looked like a shrug, “We aren’t sure why but that’s how it is.”

“For my part I’ll thank you for that,” the swordsman said.

“You didn’t come here to thank me.”

“No I came here to see if what we suspected is true and it is. You five are trying to reach out to us.”

“I’ve been trying to find the right way to get to you since these dark sorcerers showed up.” The fox stood and with a very serious voice said, “I cannot be controlled the way your last set of armor was. I’m rooted deeper into your magic and your soul than my predecessor ever could have been. That armor was a _weapon_ to be used. I am _your armor_. I will act as such to protect you because I want to.”

Sage stared down at the Halo’s Spirit wide eyed in surprise. He wasn’t sure what to say or do. It did feel like a weight had just been taken off his chest after hearing this declaration.

“I... I just wanted to say that to you.”

“Thank you. I needed to hear that.”

The fox’s tail wagged happily.

“While we’re here, there is something else I want to ask you about. The attack that saved us the other night, that was the five of you acting together without us wasn’t it?”

“Yes. We could feel the same pain the five of you felt that night. Whatever they hit us with was strong dark magic. The counter attack we used was a combination of all our energy.” Looking away he said, “We thought we’d level the whole block, but we got lucky and only leveled the building.”

Outside the windows the wind picked up, rustling the trees and howling loud. The fox picked it’s ears up, “Seiji you need to wake up. Strata say’s something is wrong.”

* * *

 

Sage’s eyes shot open to once again find himself in his bedroom. It was still dark outside and the clock beside it bed read that was it almost three in the morning. Yet the air in the apartment was thick and heavy.

“Rowen?” He stood, walked out of his room to find his roommate in the living room. Rowen’s eyes where narrowed but moving around wildly, his whole body was stiff yet he was breathing fast. “Rowen what is it?”

“I don’t know but something is _wrong_.” There was a slight panic to his voice and even the archer didn’t know why. He was fine until two minutes ago when his heart rate had gone up and he felt like he was panicking, yet it didn’t feel like he was the one panicking. It was more like when you watch an action movie and you begin to react the way the lead character is... _Oh shit_. It hit him.

“Rowen.”

The archer looked at his friend, “Sileny is in trouble.”


	11. Chapter 11

**A Part**

**Chapter Eleven**

* * *

"Back off!" Sileny shouted before hitting the attacker with her art history text book. The ninja hit the ground with a loud thud and disintegrated into a fine black dust. Two others came from the kitchen, armed with nun chucks.

Great! _Just great_!

Black Blaze jumped over the Swedish girl from the staircase and pounced onto a ninja that was advancing on Rachel. They launched into the wall when the ninja disintegrated, the tiger did a backflip off the wall only to land on another attacker before crashing them both onto the remains of the coffee table.

"Thanks Black Blaze," Rachel looked from him to Sileny, "If they are getting in we need to get out." The trio made for the front door, flung it opened and-

The two girls shouted as three assailants burst through the door. One pushed the girls back as the other two crashed into the sofa with Black Blaze, the furniture breaking under the sudden weight.

Black Blaze let out a cry of pain as his back slammed through the fabric and wood of the former sofa. He had felt something crake on impact near his shoulder. Why hadn't he known they'd he at the door?!

The younger girl tried to get away as the throwing star went shooting past her, grazing the skin on her left arm. It stung and she knew she was bleeding without having to look. Her cheek stung too. She moved back into a corner near Black Blaze, her hands gripped tightly on her wooden training sword.

"GRAH!"

"Sileny!" Rachel shouted.

Sileny glared at the thing that had her pinned to the floor. Her shoulder screamed in pain and she couldn't move since her attacker had another weapon pointed right on her stomach. She was debating head butting him when she saw three golden arrow plunge into his shoulder.

"Get off of her!" Rowen's voice had a sharp, deadly, edge to it.

"Rowen! Sage!"

"Rachel!" Sage bounded over the remains of the sofa, a swift swing of his sword and the two cornering her and the injured tiger were gone. "Are you-?" He was about to say are you alright but he saw the scratch on her cheek and her arm. No she was not okay. The swordsman felt his blood pressure rise.

"Sil!" The archer helped her up but eyes did not leave the wound on her shoulder. "Which one did that to you?"

Sileny covered the wound, "The one you just dusted-watch out!"

Turning on a dime, Rowen around kicked his would be attacker back into the kitchen, "The sliding door's open. That's how they are getting in."

"They ambushed us as we were locking up for the night."

He looked at her then moved his eyes to his roommate and Rachel. Movement out front caught his eye, "Sage! Rachel!"

Two assailants were running at the large front window. Sage pulled Rachel close to him, getting his sword ready.

White Blaze darted out of nowhere, pouncing on the attackers before they managed to jump through the window.

_Ryo, we're inside_. Sage called to his friend.

_Right. Cye and Kento just got here too, these guys are all over the neighborhood_.

_Are the girls alright_? Cye asked.

_No_. Sage looked at Rachel then at Sileny, _they've been injured and Black Blaze has been hurt bad too_.

"Sage we gotta get these guys out of the house," Rowen called to his friend.

"If we go out first they'll follow us. We are the ones they came after," Rachel looked at the swordsman.

Sage exchanged a brief glance with Rowen before looking at her, " Stay close." The quartet headed for the remains of the front door, Rowen firing off arrows at the attackers who followed them. Once outside Kento jumped down from the roof to join them, he swung his weapon at one of the ninjas that Rowen had missed.

Cye used a water attack to push back a small wave that tried charging over from around the back of the house. "These guys are all over the place!"

"How is it that no one else in the neighborhood is awake?!" Sileny looked up and down the street.

"Good Question," Rowen agreed before joining Kento in kicking another back. "They're trying to over power us."

"Yeah man but they aren't trying all that hard." Hardrock pointed out.

A large group of the attackers leapt from the roof of the neighboring house, coming down at the ronin and the two girls all at once.

_Seriously Kento_?! Ryo swung his good arm and fire erupted from his sword. The fire swirled around the enemy and where it missed, large bolts of thunder from Sage did not.

Kento cursed at himself before slamming his weapon on the concrete, summoning the stone pathway to circle around them and thus creating a makeshift barrier. This not only struck or repelled the enemy as they got near but gave them all a better view of the area. Only drawback was that soon they found themselves surrounded. There was at the least thirty ninjas around them that they could all see.

"How did they find you two?" Cye asked.

Sileny took hold of the arrow head necklace around her neck, "I can think of two possibilities."

The archer glared, "Either way lets send them back their masters crying."

"I couldn't agree with you more, buddy."

Cye looked at his best friend, "Careful, they are all armed with more weapons than they had the last time."

"Watch each other's back and don't let the girls get hurt," Ryo ordered. He gripped one of swords with both hands, his arm still hurt and he could feel the strain on the injured muscles, but he'd be damned if he was going to let these bastards get away with this. Glancing over to Rachel he saw her lock eyes with him and give a nod. "Now!"

The Ronin of Hardrock turned the concrete fragments on the attackers which was quickly followed by a massive water wave from the Ronin of Torrent that masked the arrows which found their targets with better ease before exploding. As the ninjas began turning to dust, the group made a move for the backyard, at least there they'd have less of a chance of one of the neighbors spotting them. One of the ninjas burst out from a side window; crashing into Cye they both smashed into the fence right into the neighbor's yard. The water warrior sucker punched his attacker in the face just as Kento yanked him off and threw him into an on-coming group.

Sage took his sword with both hands, _Jump_! He told the others before letting loose a string of lightning around them. Kento took hold of Rachel while Rowen grabbed Sileny and they all jumped onto the roof. It wasn't surprising that the burst of energy that the Ronin of Halo let out not only took out about half their attackers; it also drained the whole neighborhood of power. Joining them on the roof, he looked around at the darkness, "I over did it."

"Nah I think this might be better," The archer said in a hushed voice. With all the lights out they wouldn't be easy to see, especially on a really cloudy night like tonight with a sliver of a moon in the sky.

"Cye are you okay?"

He smiled, "I'm fine Rachel. Are you two alright?"

Sileny held her shoulder, which had started bleeding again, "We will be." She could feel Rowen's grip on her good shoulder tighten.

Ryo turned to look at Rachel… was that blood on her face? He couldn't quite make it out in the darkness yet still it looked like it. His mind was brought back to the battle when several assailants jumped up from the sides of the house, each with a long sword coming down fast at them. There wasn't enough time to block the attack, just enough time to get out of the way. He took hold of Rachel's arm and pulled her down with him, the two landed in the backyard by the sliding glass door. Sadly, there wasn't time to catch their breath before they found themselves surrounded again.

After landing in the tree, Kento and Cye catapulted off the branches; knocking down a few of the attackers surrounding their friends.

The Ronin of Wildfire swung his sword in the air again, sending out his attack of fire.

The dust settled just as Rowen, Sileny, and Sage landed beside their leader. "They just keep coming," Halo gripped his sword.

"Don't they know curfew starts at 10pm?"

"I don't think they care about that, Kento." The younger girl looked around, "They're persistent though."

_There's so many of them_ , Ryo glared at the scene. They had to think of something fast to win or to at least find a quick way out and get the girls to safety. He heard a whistling noise from the side, out of the corner of his eye he saw something sharp hurdling towards them, there wasn't enough time to focus on them as three attackers charged them from the front. When the ninjas clashed their weapons with the ronin, Wildfire felt something go shooting past his face before feeling three sharp pains in his injured arm, he felt the blood starting to soak in his subarmor and beside him he heard Cye give a grunt of pain. The sharp gasp in pain behind him though, that set him off.

"Rachel! Cye!" Sage saw the small throwing star that stuck out of her lower arm. Cye had two in his upper arm just under his shoulder gear. The blond could also see the blood starting to drip from his leader's arm.

White Blaze came charging out of the house, he pounced on an attacker, grabbed him by the throat and tossed him into two others running their way.

Rachel pulled out the throwing star from her arm and quickly covered the wound, blood already starting to trickle down her arm. She looked at her friends, fear gripping at her when she saw Cye was injured and that Ryo's injured arm was bleeding badly. _Oh no._.

The water warrior did his best to push the pain back as he slammed his weapon on the ground, water shot out from the grass and quickly turned into a fog that was too dense to see in. _We need to get the girls out of here_!

_And go where?! We're in the middle of the suburbs_. Hardrock quickly pointed out, _we need to take care of these ass holes_!

_We can't use too many attacks or we'll end up destroying houses_ , the archer added, _And the sun is going to be up soon then we could have a whole other mess of problems when people start waking up and see us_. Rowen glanced over to Sileny, her shoulder specifically, his eyes full of concern and anger.

Ryo gritted his teeth together trying so hard to ignore the pains in his arm, _Every time we hit them with a strong enough force they turn back into dust, we need to figure out a way to hit them all at once_.

_It would be really nice if we knew just how many there are_.

_There's at least a dozen of them, why aren't they attacking us now_?

_They can't see us, Kento, I've made sure the fog stays thick and it's surrounding the whole house_.

_Okay, okay, lets use this to our advantage. Cye, how long can you keep this fog going_?

He glanced over at Strata direction, _For a while I'd imagine. It doesn't take a whole lot of energy to do_.

_You're thinking of doing a sneak attack_. Sage thought it was a good idea too if they could just execute it right.

_Hey Seiji_ , the small voice of his armor whispered in his mind, _you and I can get them all at once. I have an idea_.

He listened to what the small voice was telling him. This idea might actually work. _Hey guys let me try something to get us started_.

_Go for it_ , Ryo urged him.

Sage held his sword out in front of him, he could feel the energy pulsating through it, just as he could sense his friends around him. _Just don't move_ , was all the warning he gave before the energy on the sword turned into a bright burst of thunder that flew into the fog and danced around in it.

It was like watching a thunder storm out of the classic old horror movies. The hair on Sileny's arms was standing on end while she watched the lightning and thunder travel through the mists. Some bursts of light where large than others, the tendrils of light would strike then spider web off to strike again. Once the light faded, the fog disappeared too, she was ready to see other ninjas just ready to pounce. But no one was there and the sunlight was just starting to shine in the sky.

"Whoa."

"When did you learn to do that?"

"Just now," he admitted. Movement on the other side of the feces caught his attention. _Looks like I just able to clear the yard_ , he glared.

What of the group remained jumped onto the rooftops, they remained very still, yet the Ronin could feel their dead eyes staring at them. Then all at once the ninjas took off in the other direction.

"Are they retreating?" Sileny asked.

"They haven't retreated before," Cye observed.

"Let them run," Ryo said through gritted teeth, "It's too risky to go after them now and for all we know it's a trap."

"Ryo. Your arm." Sage had worry all over his face.

"It hurts like a bitch."

Cye gripped his weapon so hard his hand hurt, "Maybe we should rethink taking you to the hospital."

"I would love to _but_ what would we tell them? I can't just say I was stabbed by a golem made of black dust. They'll test me for drug, alcohol, and what's left of my sanity."

"Then we tell them something else," the blonde chimed in, "I'm sure we can think of something."

"Let's get inside so I can pull out the kits and fix it up," Rachel said in a nervous voice.

Ryo felt something in his innards turn. Now that there was a little light he could see that she was _hurt_. Not bad but she was still hurt. There was a scratch on her cheek and a small trickle of blood that was dry by now. Her left arm had a long cut with dry blood on her skin; staining her clothes.

She felt his gaze on her, "I'm fine compared to you-now get your butts inside."

* * *

It was close to noon before everyone was taken care of.

Ryo's arm had taken the longest to bandage up, the previous stab wound had not only reopened but the tear had spread and now he could add four long cuts from the throwing starts to his list of injuries. Rachel had insisted his arm needed stitches and they needed to get him to a real hospital for that. They almost went to the hospital too until Sileny announced the battery in the car was dead, a likely victim of the electrical attack Sage had unleashed earlier that morning.

Cye ended up nearly freezing water to numb Ryo's arm so Rachel could use a needle and dental floss to stitch up the wound. Ryo didn't scream in pain but he almost passed out from it more than once. Sileny ended up helping halfway through the stitching because she had more sewing practice than Rachel.

Kento, Rowen, and Sage had no injuries and luckily for Cye the one he received wasn't all that bad and little time to dress. Sileny had to be careful how she moved her shoulder or the pain would send her through the roof, an act that made Rowen's blood pressure rise each time he noticed it.

Rachel's wounds were also a very quick fix that Sileny happy attended too while they all sat in the living room amidst the remains on the furniture. Black Blaze was resting his head in her lap enjoying the sun's heat on his injured back, though he'd be right as rain in a day or two.

"It still doesn't look like they got the power back on," the potter noted as he looked out the window, "Whatever you did must have really shorted out the system."

"Not my intention but it worked out to our benefit."

"How did you even know how to do that?" Hardrock asked, "I've never seen you do anything like that before even at practice."

"My armor explained it to me."

Rachel turned to him, "Your armor?"

"The armors are alive somehow. I can't explain it very well but…" He went on to tell them about the little talk he and Halo had before the attack.

The group was quiet for a moment until Kento broke the silence, "So these armors we're wearing are possessed?"

"Sounds more like they're tsukumogami or something," Rowen corrected. "They're probably old enough."

"I don't really see a difference."

Sileny shook her head, "Whatever they are, the fact that your armors have their own conscious minds explains a few things. Also if what the armor said is true and they can help heal you all then maybe Ryo's going to be lucky and won't have to go pay the ER a visit."

He cringed at the thought of going there. That would only mean more stitches, or getting it redone, not something that he felt like going through again.

"I'm glad to know our armors are trying to help us," Cye cut in, "But I'd like to know what happened last night before we got here. Why did they come after you two like that? Why couldn't Black Blaze keep them out?"

The tiger in question pinned his ears.

"Sileny and I had stayed up late working on a few things after Kayura went home. We went around to make sure everything was locked down when they just crashed through the glass door in the kitchen. There was no warning or time to react. Black Blaze shot into the kitchen to help us but we had to get out of the room, there was so many of them. He did his job as best he could in an ambush."

"But they came after the two of you."

"Maybe they are changing up their tactics? You've all beaten them before. They might be seeing how far you'll go?" Rachel gaze fell to Ryo's arm, "Or maybe they used us as bait to make your existing injuries worse. Because if that was the goal they sure succeeded."

"They came after you guys because they knew we'd come to protect you two. They have every intention of swarming in and over powering Black Blaze." Sage let out frustrated sigh.

"You two got hurt." Ryo looked between them, "Did they at all try to kidnap you or did they just hurt you?"

Sileny shrugged, "I have no idea what they wanted. We started fighting them back when they broke into the house."

Kento leaned forward, "When we fought Shikaisen he sent his goons to kidnap Mia and Yuli and used them as bait to lure us into a trap. I bet that was the plan with you two. They have seen you both with us."

"I don't think they counted on Black Blaze being here or on you guys showing up so fast."

"True. We know the experiment you and Rowen decide to try was a success," the blonde agreed, "With luck they won't try it again."

"Are we ever that lucky?" Cye asked.

"Not really," Rachel answered. "Sileny and I will just be more careful. That's all we really can do."

"No it's not. We should stay with you two," Rowen said. Seeing the looks he was getting he quickly added, "Look. Ryo's seriously injured and he needs medical attention, we all agree on that, right now Rachel is the best we have for that so he should stay here where she can keep an eye on him. Since he isn't really in any condition to fight, sorry man but you're not, we should stay too to make sure he follows the doctors' orders and to protect the girls."

Sage thought it sounded like a good plan for the most part, "This enemy likes to attack with large groups. What if they attack and over power us? When the two apprentices attacked we only just made it out of that."

"And you were able to drive off their ninjas with that new attack," Ryo looked at him. A small yet good victory that he knew his friend was in dire need of.

"I'd like to add that Rachel and I also have day jobs that you guys can't exactly follow us to. Okay you guys can hang out at the café so long as Rachel can do her job, but no one is allowed in the call center with me unless they are invisible."

"Dais could probably make himself invisible or close to it, you said he did that when you guys where in Haytie's palace" the archer said, "I just want you both safe. The last two times in a very, very, strange way we got lucky because you two weren't targets. This shows without a doubt that they will come after you both."

"Okay let's ask him if he could do that," she agreed, "Also I'd like to point out that the latter part of that statement isn't completely true. When we got _dragged_ into Haytie's palace we were most definitely targets."

Kento glanced at Rachel as the memory of saving her from the Manticore resurfaced.

"This time you aren't on a rescue mission." Rowen pressed.

"No and that doesn't change things."

Rachel sat up, "Look guys we are _all_ in danger. If we stay together you guys can protect each other, but it also makes you an easier target too if you're all in one place with us. Sileny and I are liabilities, we all know that is going to be exploited. Best we can really do is just to make it more difficult for them." She reached forward and tugged on Sileny's necklace, "We already found one way to do that now we just need to work on other ways."

The older girl swatted her friend's hand away, "We have the day off from work at least."

"Good. Then let's all stay here and try to come up with some kind of plan," Ryo stated.

* * *

Rachel sat down on her bed, rubbing her forehead to try and sooth the pounding headache she'd had the last two hours. She was tired in every sense of the word. Her face hurt, her back hurt from falling down the stairs, there was blood on her clothes-most of which belonged to Ryo, and if this damn headache didn't go away soon she was going to scream into a pillow.

A knock on the door, "Rachel?"

"Yeah?"

The Ronin of Wildfire walked in and sat in the chair by her desk, before offering her the bottle of pain pills. "I know a headache when I see one. You should rest."

"Isn't that supposed to be my line?" She took the pain pills from him. "How is your arm?"

"Better, it's just a dull ache now that I can live with. I'm more worried about you."

"My injuries are minor, Sileny will be fine in a week. I wish you'd worry more about yourself sometimes."

"I'm not very good at that," He gave a half-hearted smile, "My skill's in worrying about everyone else first."

"Yes. Yes it is and it's part of your charm." She shook her head.

He wasn't sure what made him do it, yet he reached out and touched the bandage on her cheek. It hurt seeing her injured no matter how tiny the injury was.

Sky blue eyes fixed on him. His hand was warm against her face. This act was so small and simple, yet it still set off those butterflies in her stomach and made her pulse race. No matter how hard she tried to suppress those feelings they still surfaced.

Ryo looked down, "I'm sorry…" taking his hand away and sighing he looked back up to her, "I'm not sure how well I can protect you until my arm heals and that scares me." She opened her mouth to say something; he took her hand in his, "I don't know what I would do if something bad happened to you. Both of you. You're a part of the team, I don't mean just as our doctor either, you're our friend. You do more for us than you probably know. You mean a lot to us. We lost someone when we fought against their master and I can't go through that again. Especially not with _you_. I know I sound like a broken record at this point but please be careful, I need to know that you are safe."

Rachel studied him, waiting to see if he would say more, when he didn't she said, "I know that." She paused, "I will be as careful as I possibly can. I always am. I don't enjoy being a liability, neither does Sileny. And yes I know how badly the fight with Shikaisen affected you and Sage." Her grip on his hands tightened, "I am not Luna. If you tell me to run I will run, I will hide, and yes I will fight to the best of my ability if I have to. I will cheer you all on and I will always fix the wounds you get."

He couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was so much more brave in this moment than he was.

"Ryo, you need to promise me that you five will also be careful. I know there is always a risk for injury or worse when you guys fight, but I need you to promise me anyways."

"I promise to do my best." That was the best he could offer her.

She smiled to him and nodded; then froze.

Ryo was kissing her forehead. He lingered there for a few moments before pulling back, "We should get some rest…"

The young girl watched him leave the room, when he was gone she let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding in. She felt the blood rising in her cheeks as her heart began to race.

Did that really just happen?


	12. Chapter Twelve

**A Part**

Chapter Twelve

* * *

Ryo washed his face with cold water. Did he really just do that? Yes. Yes he had just done that. It wasn't like he kissed her on the lips, it was just her forehead, and yet…

_You do know you're in love with her right_? The childish voice sang in his head.

Was he? He loved her yes but was he really _in love_ with her? No one made him feel this way before. Ryo meant every single word he had said to her. Rachel was important to them. She was important to _him_.

The voice snickered, _Kento told you to ask her out, you really should do that when this is over_.

_Should I_?

_Yes_. _Besides you don't just show affection to a girl and leave her hanging, I'm armor and even I know that_.

_But what I do…_ What he did was dangerous and she got hurt. This wasn't the first time either.

_Ryo. It's been three years. She's aware of the danger and look, she's still here_.

The warrior closed his eyes, letting out a long breath he didn't know he had been holding.

* * *

Kento looked from the remains of the sofa back to his friend, "You did say you two needed a new sofa."

Sileny groaned in response.

Rowen raised a brow, "I don't this this is the way they wanted to go furniture shopping, Kento."

"Not especially," she agreed. "And I don't think we'll have time to drive down to IKEA anytime soon. I guess it gives us more floor room for you guys to lay out the futons, if nothing else."

"When did you and Rachel gets these anyways?" Cye asked. Though he was grateful not to be sleeping on the bare floor he didn't recall these being here last time.

"Yesterday afternoon," Sileny looked around at her guests, "I ordered them in the mail shortly after I got back from Sweden. You guys crash here often enough I figured it was past time I actually be a good hostess."

"Ryo should take the sofa," Sage looked at the loveseat that sat in front of the large window. The only one of the two to survive. "Be better for his arm."

"Probably. But do you really think he'll sleep there and leave you guys on the floor?"

"Perhaps you all should invest in a larger house?"

Everyone moved at one when the unexpected voice spoke. Rowen grabbed Sileny around the waist and pulled her close to him; Cye and Sage whirled around, while Kento picked up a piece of the dead sofa.

Sekhmet stared at them eyes wide, he couldn't have hidden that smug smirk on his face if he had tried. "Jumpy are we?" He was holding open the closet door which looked to be serving as a temporary portal to the Neather Realm.

Sileny said something in Swedish to the warlord that didn't sound very nice; the others all relaxed, though Rowen didn't release his hold on her.

"One day I'll know what names you're calling me," he said to the girl.

"What are you doing here?" Kento asked.

"Playing the role of chaperone." He stepped aside and Norboru stepped into the room. "He asked to see the sights you five fought the enemy at, something about having some ideas to help you; you weren't at your homes so where else would you possibly be?"

Noboru couldn't stop looking around the living room, "This is what a modern house looks like now?" It was so _different_. Was this what they called a western style? He tapped the large black piece of glass stuck in a box, "Is this a mirror?"

"No that's a T.V., it shows you things…" Kento paused, "No it is kinda like a magic mirror but it needs electricity to run and we have none right now."

"We haven't had any all day," Rowen added with a glance at Sage.

"Yes I do know that it's probably my fault," the blonde replied, "I tried fixing it and I can't. Lets just hope the power company can."

"If not tomorrow morning is going to suck." Sileny wanted a hot shower desperately and breakfast would be a real challenge to boot.

The Warlord of Venom was amused by this, "You knocked out the power for six blocks? I'm impressed."

Sage didn't look like he accepted the compliment well.

"The powers of your armor are impressive," Noboru wanted to go look into the kitchen and the bathroom but his attention was grabbed by a small amount of power coming from the bookcase. He approached with caution until he found the source. And old tattered book stood out against the clean, sharp edges of the other books on the shelf. There was a very small amount of power coming from it, so small it was highly unlikely anyone else could have sensed it.

"See something there you like?"

"Just something that caught my attention." He turned and actually got a good look at this foreign girl. She was standing with Rowen, long light-orange hair loose down her back, wearing dark pants and... and a light blue shirt that had no sleeves? "What kind of a shirt is that? Is this an undergarment? Should you be walking around like that with so many young men in the house?"

"Excuse you?" What the hell? Was this guy for real? Sileny stared at him, well aware of the snickers that filled the room. "It's called a tank top." She said slowly, "It's a normal shirt for girls to be wearing these days."

"Are you sure? Do you wear it because of that injury?"

Sekhmet cleared his throat, "Noboru todays fashion is… interesting at times we should leave it at that. As for Sileny here, no one here would do anything to compromise her."

"I would hope not."

"…What are you guys talking about down there…?"

"My scandalous fashion choices?" Azure eyes looked up the stairs to her friends.

"You're... what?"

Ryo walked down the stair with Rachel right behind him, "Sekhmet. Noboru. What are you guys doing here?"

"I asked to see you all," Noboru addressed the Ronin, "I had been going over old documents of mine when I came across somethings I thought might be useful. I asked Sekhmet to take me to places you fought the enemy. And then he offered to take me to one of your homes, but when no one was there he said this was the most likely place to find you. Though I do think we have interrupted something." His eyes danced around the room until they landed on the two tigers, "Or should have come sooner?"

"You five fought them and didn't invite us?"

"There wasn't exactly time to think about calling you," Sage crossed his arms, "We almost didn't even know it was happening. Rowen sensed Sileny was in danger."

"Oh?" The onmyouji looked to the archer and the girl beside him, who he guessed was Sileny.

"You sensed it? Through the arrowhead you gave her? That actually worked?" Kayura had told him and the other warlords about this.

Noboru approached them, "May I?" When the girl nodded he lifted the necklace up but did not take it off her. "This is from one of your arrows, Rowen?"

"Yeah."

"What gave you this idea?" He looked at the archer, "And how did you know exactly your friends were in danger."

"I got the idea from Sekhmet."

"Beg pardon?" The warlord did not expect that.

"You gave Rachel and I each one of your swords to use when we got dragged into Haytie's palace, you did it so it looked like we could protect ourselves but it also let you know where we were. I reminded Rowen this and he decided to try it with one of his weapons."

"And it works," Rowen added, "Better than I had thought even. I know where Sileny is as long as she wears this. I didn't expect to know that she was in trouble like that though."

"Tell me how."

Cye nodded, "You haven't even told us how you knew."

"I was awake because I was awake, I was on my way to the kitchen to get a drink when I suddenly felt something was wrong. Best way I can even think to put this is that it's like when you're watching an action film or something, and you're so invested in a character that you start panicking or whatever when they are even though what's going on doesn't directly affect you. I was perfectly fine and Sage was sleeping in the room next to me, I knew it wasn't him." He looked down to Sileny, "It hit me all at once that it was your fear I was feeling."

"I woke up from a dream-meditation state and found Rowen in the living room. I asked him what was wrong and he said Sileny was in trouble. I called the rest of you and we took off."

"Fascinating." The sorcerer smiled, "A good experiment then."

Rachel knew that her friend didn't want to bring this up, still it needed to be said, "Kayura said she could feel power coming off of it. Can you?"

Sileny glared.

"Not much. I wouldn't worry about it-this is too small to lure them here if that is what you are thinking."

"Good to know." Rowen said. "But back to why you're actually here."

"Ah yes. I believe I came across the names of the apprentices while looking over my scrolls and books. While that might not sound like much it could be useful against them, names are powerful things. I came to observe the places you've been attacked at to see if they fall on any magical lines in the city, and thus far this house is the only place that's not on or near a hot spot."

"Hot spot?"

"Places with a high concentration of energy, magical or otherwise." He addressed Ryo, "Your apartment isn't far from a hot spot. To create these ninjas creatures that have been attacking you lot, they need to tap into a strong energy source. Tokyo is a large city with many hot spots."

"What about the attack they hit our friends with?" Rachel asked.

"That was created by tapping into the hot spots and other energy around them. Your friends countered it by using the elemental energy around them and by using the magic within themselves. In truth that is a rare combination."

"Is that what sorceress like you do? Summon things by tapping into energy?"

He smiled at the older girl, "We can do more when it suits us." He lifted her hand up, "For example, shall I tell you your fortune?"

"I'd rather not know my future but thanks."

"A wise woman."

"Noboru, you said you think you found their names. How exactly is that going to help us now?" Ryo asked.

"I believe I have yes." He pulled a large scroll out from the sleeve of his robes, "And this knowledge will help you more than you might realize. They hide behind masks because they don't want you to know them, so if you at least have a name then whatever advantage they have over you will be greatly lessened."

"Shikaisen told us who he was," Kento pointed out.

"He felt he had nothing to hide. These two clearly do." Noboru knelt down to the coffee table and rolled it out. "Back during my time in the court, when someone was banished they would make small sketches of what the person looked like, these sketches would be given to guards, other politicians, and the like. That way they could not be let in by mistake."

Sileny watched as the parchment was unrolled. She could make out some writing in faded ink but it was hard to tell exactly what it was saying. When a sketch of a very old, creepy looking old man with large pointed ears and drooping earlobes was relieved, she heard the collective intake of breath from her friends. She dared glance to Sage and saw the anger in his face, "Is this Shikaisen?"

"Yes."

"And here we have," he finished unrolling the scroll, showing two drawings of young men who couldn't have been past their mid-twenties. Long faces with their hair pulled back in the old fashion. While these may have just been drawings, there was a wild unkindness to their eyes. "These two. The ink is faded badly; in truth I'm shocked I still have this. I can just make out their names as Ranmaru and Yoritomo."

"Would those be their first or last names?" The younger girl asked.

"I'm not sure," he admitted, "Either way it's still something."

"So what then? Next time we see them we call out their names?" Ryo asked.

"You could. Though unless you are sure you know who is who, I wouldn't recommend it. Just having the knowledge gives you an advantage, even if you yourself don't realize it."

Ronin of Torrent studied the old drawings, committing them to his memory, "Since Rachel and Sileny know their names and faces will it help them too?"

"It should yes." He stood, "I will leave this with you, I've no further use for it."

"Noboru, is there some way the girls can protect themselves from Ranmaru and Yoritomo?" Sage asked, "In case we aren't here or-"

"I can set a barrier charm around the house. It should keep their minions out, be it the ninjas or any shiki they might have. I can't promise it will keep those two out themselves." He folded his arms into his sleeves, "I'll return in the morning to set it."

Rachel blinked, "In the morning? You can't do it now?"

Noboru gave her a smile, "I could but it would be best to wait until you ladies of the house have rested. To cast this barrier, I will need to use energy from the two of you and right now you two just don't have enough. Please get a good night's rest and I will return in the morning."

Sekhmet opened the portal door again, both he and Noboru stepped back into the Neather Realm with the closet door closing behind them.

A flicker, a buzzing sound, and just like that the power returned to the house.

"Well that only took them all day." Kento chuckled then looked at his friends, "You two okay with him using your energy?"

"If it gives us added protection and you five piece of mind, then I have no problems with it at all." Sileny said.

"I agree. We'll just need to be extra careful outside the house."

Rowen lifted up the parchment, glaring at the old sketches he said, "I'd like to know how these bastards found you two."

"I'm not entirely sure I want to know," Sileny replied.

"They know where Ryo lives," Kento piped up, "Maybe they've been following us and we just don't know? Sad to say this wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened."

"Maybe there is a yokai network or something that has our names and addresses listed so everyone can find us?" The archer shrugged.

"I know you mean that as a joke but I'd totally buy that as a theory at this point."


	13. Chapter 13

A Part

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

 

 

“The powers of these armors appear limitless, brother.” The masked figure watched the battle of the previous night unfold in a mirror. “Observing from afar as you suggested has paid off well.”

“Indeed. It also proved our suspicions are correct, they are just as protective of each other as these two girls. Touching really. I almost feel sympathetic to these girls. They are braver than they know.”

“Let us reward that bravery, brother.” He turned from the scene.

“A reward? Of what sort?”

“I have the perfect one.” Pulling a small vile of dark magenta liquid from his sleeve, “The gift of forgetting.”

“Ah yes. A fitting reward. They shall forget and thus not be as horrified when they see what we shall use these boys for. A small act of kindness is it not?”

"Is it. One I dare say we can afford to give.” Looking to the fight scene the other brother gave a smirk. “Let us start out planning for this end game. I know a way to lure them to us without much fuss.”

“Exploiting the obvious weakness? Is that not what aided in Shikaisen’s downfall?”

“Indeed. Yet he planned to kill those he captured, we will offer a trade.” He motioned between the Strata and the orange haired girl, “See she wears his mark. And we already know the other girl is important to Wildfire.”

“A trade of their lives for those they care for. What will mortals not do for love?” He gave a curt nod, “Still I say we form a contingency plan in the event something goes wrong.”

 “As you say, brother.”

* * *

 

Rowen did not like this.

Yes, he understood this needed to be done for their protection. No, he did not understand that meant having the five of them on the property could mess up whatever energy. He was **_not_** comfortable leaving them almost alone in the house after what happened yesterday.

“Would you chill out? If Noboru was going to do anything funny I’m sure Black Blaze would’ve eat his face off already,” Kento assured his tall friend. He didn’t like leaving them alone either but at least he felt they had a measure of safety. The tiger was hurt but not dead.

Rowen shot a sideways glance at his friend but said nothing.

“I wonder how long this will take?” Cye mused, “Noboru wasn’t specific when he said it would take a little time.”

“He wasn’t specific about much of anything before tossing us out,” Wildfire rubbed his arm, damn was it sore and even a little itchy, “Hopefully not long, we must all look strange sitting out on the sidewalk like something the trash took out.” He felt like it too, and he was less than thrilled about it. Noboru had kicked them all out as soon as they woke up, said they needed to stay outside the house because this spell would take some time.

“I want to know why it matters if we are inside the house or not.” Sage kept his eyes on the front door, “If the barrier is going to keep things from getting inside to harm them shouldn’t we be inside to help?”

“Maybe it’s because this is their home and not ours?” Torrent looked at his friend, “We fight demons and wear magical armor, however we know next to nothing about magic itself. There are probably rules for these things?”

That… that was true.  Dress it up anyway you looked at it and the five of them really didn’t know much about magic. They wore mystical armor and they fought using magic. Yet they didn’t know much if anything about magic itself. Maybe there was a perfectly good reason they couldn’t be in there?

_Nobroru gave you the reason_ , Halo whispered to Sage, _your energies are different and could mix things up. They’ll be okay_.

Ryo held his arm a bit tight and bit back a grimace when a pulse of pain shot through it. First time that happened since he woke up. Holy shit that hurt! That was when he noticed the goosebumps on his skin.

The air all around them shifted. Crisp autumn hair turned warm and it felt as though a huge burst of energy and air just shot right through them all. Their hairs stood on end from the shock of it all, yet the feeling it left them wasn’t a bad one. A sense of warmth and relief hung over them.

 What just happened?

The front door opened and Noboru beckoned them over, “You can come in now. I dare say the girls might need your help standing up. This took a bit more out of them than I had anticipated eh heh.”

 “What?!” The troopers ran into the house.

Rachel and Sileny both sat on the ground looking like they just came off riding a Tild-a-Whirl one too many times.

Cye helped Rachel to her feet, “You two okay?”

“Think so,” she replied. It felt like all the strength had been ripped from her. Standing was about all she could manage.

“Let’s try not to ever do that again,” Sileny staggered a bit but Kento steadied her.

Sage glared at Noboru, “You said this wouldn’t hurt them.”

“We’re not hurt, Sage. Just exhausted.” The younger girl assured.

“And I did tell you that it would take a lot of energy.” He reminded the warriors. “With some rest and food they will be fine within a few hours. Rachel has a couple hours before she must go to her job and Sileny tells me she can sit at hers.”

“That burst of energy we felt was the barrier being cast, wasn’t it?” Cye asked.

Noboru nodded, “It was.” He looked at the girls, “You two should be safe here from their minions or any low level yokai that might wonder this way in the future.”

Ryo did feel the difference in the air around the house. There was a warmth to it and the air was thicker. “If they try to get in what will happen? Will they hit a wall or something?”

“That’s a good way to put it. I could cast one around your homes too if you wish; I doubt you’ll have the same side-effects as Rachel and Sileny.”

“We’ll think it over,” Kento answered.

“Right. I’ll head back to the Neather Realm for now, Dais should be here shortly to watch over Sileny at her job. I’d like to drop by later to see how this holds up and to be sure you two are well.” When the girls nodded the sorcerer gave a deep bow before simply fading away.

“Is Kayura the only one who knows how to use the front door?” Sileny shook her head.

“Looks that way,” Rowen looked her over, “You sure you’re both okay? You don’t look so good.”

“Wow thanks.”

“Sil.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“We both will,” Rachel added, “I don’t think I’d care to ever do that again though. That was a really weird sensation.”

Kento looked at her, “What happened?”

“After Noboru kicked you guys out he told us to think of walls that could engulf the property. He started chanting an older dialect of Japanese; then it felt like an electric shock or something shot through me. At the same time it felt like paresthesia was starting.”

The Ronin of Torrent raised a brow, “Pares-what?”

“It’s the term for what happens when your foot or arm falls asleep.” She looked at her best friend.

Sileny nodded, “Did you have a moment where you felt like you’d throw up too?”

“Right near the end before it felt like I just broke a fever.” When she saw the look her friend gave her, “Wait you didn’t get that feeling?”

“Breaking a fever? No. It felt like I’d been spinning in circles for too long.”

“You both had a different last minute reaction?” Sage looked between them, “I don’t suppose that’d be normal?”

_It’s the difference in their energy_ , White Blaze informed the Ronin.

“White Blaze say’s it’s the difference in your energy,” Rowen crossed his arms, “That would make sense.”

“It would.”

“Now that we know you two will be safer let’s get some breakfast going,” Cye smiled, “I’ll fix it up if you’ll let me use the kitchen.”

“There’s not a whole lot here to work with but you’re welcome to it.” Rachel smiled at him.

“I’ll give you a hand,” Kento followed his friend into the kitchen.

“While those two play chef, we better decide what we are doing today.” Sage looked at Rowen.

“You two leaving me out of a party?” Ryo smirked.

“ _You_ are going with Rachel to the café so she can keep an eye on you,” the archer looked at his injured friend. “And vise versa.”

Sileny smirked, “And what are the rest of you going to do?”

“Kento said he was going to come to the café,” the younger girl recalled. “Dais will be with Sileny so what will the rest of you do?”

“I think it would be a good idea to scout the city,” the blonde suggested. “Maybe the three of us can find out where these guys are hiding.”

“Good idea.” Rowen agreed.

Wildfire’s tone became serious, “If you do find it do not engage in a fight without Kento or I there.”

“We won’t unless they come at us first,” the swordsman promised.

An idea struck the Swedish girl, “Why don’t you guys see if Kayura, Sekhmet, and Cale can help? You six break up into two teams of three to cover more ground. Maybe they know a few good hiding places from their assault on the city before?”

“Worth a shot.”

* * *

 

The elevator music was strangely soothing and Kento could not for the life of him figure out why. “So how long is your shift today?”

Finishing the braid in her hair Rachel replied, “Five hours. I hope you two won’t get bored.”

“Nah. I asked Sileny if we could borrow a few of her mythology books. She gave us two really big ones.” His eyes drifted to his leader, “Ryo?”

“Hm? Oh sorry. Yeah she gave us one on North myths and I think she said the other was Egyptian?”

“You okay?” Rachel asked, “Is it your arm?”

“A little, I was also talking with Sage. They are going to start from the bay and work their way over, Kayura and the other three will start around Mt. Fuji then meet up by Tokyo Tower.”

“I hope they find something that won’t be more trouble.” Rachel sighed.

“Ditto.”

“They’ll let us know if they find anything,” Wildfire put a hand on her shoulder, “If they need help-”

“I expect you both to drop everything and go help them if they need it.” She stared at both the warriors. “I’ll smack you both upside the head if you don’t.”

Ryo smiled despite himself.

The doors opened revealing the quant European style café, early though it was the café was not short for customers. Smells of coffee and pastries baking soon filled their noses.

“You guys want anything?” She smiled at them. “It’s on me.”

Kento inhaled deeply, “I’m still full but some coffee might be nice.” He side-eyed her, “And it will not be on you. You’re already doing more than enough for us. I’m buying.”

“Rachel!” A young man trotted over, absolutely beaming at the young girl but his joy quickly vanished and was replaced with concern. “Whoa what happened to your cheek?”

“I took one of my cats to the vet yesterday, he was less than pleased.” She put her hand over the bandage, “It’s just a tiny scratch, I’ll be okay.”

“You sure?” He noticed the other two guys in the room staring at him, “Um.. hello.”

“Jared, these are my friend Kento and Ryo, guys this my co-worker Jared.”

He smiled, “Nice to meet more of Rachel’s friends.” The boy turned to her again, “You sure know a lot of guys.”

“Something wrong with that?”

“Nah, just observing.”

Kento squinted at him, “Nice to meet you Jared,” _something about this guy…_

Jared gave a grin, “Nice to meet you too, Kento. Rachel talks about you guys a lot. You’re all really close friends, huh?”

“We are.” He answered.

“Well let me know if you guys need anything, any friends to Rachel are friends of mine.”

* * *

 

Across town Sage, Cye, and Rowen stood atop one of the buildings in Shibuya. They had been looking all over for some time now and found nothing. No traces of the apprentices or their little minions.

"I’m starting to think we aren’t going to find anything,” The archer finally admitted.

“I agree,” Cye looked around the cityscape, “We’ve been out here for hours searching and we can’t so much as sense them.”

“These guys really know how to cover their tracks.” Violet eyes gazed in the direction of Tokyo Tower, “Kayura and the others can’t find anything either. They’re heading back.”

“I’d start to think they only come at night if they hadn’t already attacked the dojo the other day.”

“They want to be the ones who bring the fight to us, not the other way around.”

“In a way it’s strange.” The Ronin of Torrent remarked, “Here we are going over the city looking for them, we know they are after us for whatever reason, but they aren’t coming out.”

Rowen nodded, “Strange like how they had the perfect chance to catch us when they first met us and they didn’t.”

“Sage, I know you don’t like talking about what happened, but how did they get you in New York?”

He became visibly uncomfortable, “They jumped me in the hotel when I went to check in.”

Cye frowned, “Well they haven’t attacked us individually since they came after Sileny and I.”

“Yeah but you weren’t completely alone like Sage was, Sil was with you even if she’s not a warrior like us.”

“True. How is she anyways?”

“She’s been getting annoyed about something, other than that she’s fine.” He furrowed his brow, “I think it’s her shoulder that’s bothering her.”

“Can you feel her pain or just whatever emotion she’s feeling?” Sage asked curious.

“I can’t feel her pain but I know she’s in pain, not sure how much sense that makes, it’s mostly her emotions and her location.” He looked at his friends, “I know she sitting at her desk right now annoyed and in pain; I also know that she’s fidgeting. Don’t ask how I know that last bit-I just do.”

“I wonder how your arrow works perfectly with her but when you gave one to Rachel this morning nothing happened at all?”

“Maybe I’m limited to one tracking device?”

“Looks to be that way. We’ll need to think of something to give Rachel too.”

* * *

 

Morning drifted into the afternoon and soon everyone was gathering back at the house.

Sileny and Dais had been the first ones to return to the house, not long after the trio of Cye, Sage, and Rowen arrived and Dais took his leave.

“So did you guys have any luck?”

Rowen sat beside her on the floor, “None at all.”

“We scouted the whole city and there isn’t even so much as a sing they have even been here.”

“Not even the building you destroyed?”

“There is a team of construction workers who are taking care of that mess,” Cye sat on the sofa, “The others couldn’t find anything either. These guys have gone to a lot to cover their tracks.”

“Maybe they are operating outside the city?” She suggested, “Or in a pocket dimension?”

“Either way they aren’t here.” The archer leaned forward on to the table, “These ass holes are making sure they call out the shots.”

“We know they are after us for our armors but we don’t know anything else.”

“Same reason they always want our armors, Cye. To try take over the world.”

“Someone needs to tell the bad guys to change up their do to list.” Sileny remarked.

“Something.”

“So now what’s the plan?”

“We’re going to wait for Kento, Ryo and Rachel to get back before coming up with a new plan.” Sage explained, “Do you two mind if we stay here one more night? We just want to be sure this barrier works.”

She shrugged one shoulder, “I’m fine with that. Rachel won’t care. Though we will need to order take out or pizza, there isn’t enough food here for all of us.”

Cye nodded, “And we’ll pitch in for dinner, Sileny, don’t worry about that. It’s the least we can do.”

“Hey you guys do plenty.” She gave a smile.

Black Blaze prowled in from the kitchen, twitching an ear he walked behind Rowen and Sileny before curling up beside the girl; laying his large head in her lap.

“Yes hello to you too,” out of habit she started scratching his cheek, “You look like you’re doing better.”

“Where have you been, Black Blaze?” Sage was slightly annoyed that the tiger chose now to show up.

“He’s been sunbathing in the kitchen; he always doses that this time of day.”

Cye studied the tiger, “He really does look better. I can’t even tell he was injured yesterday.”

Black Blaze regarded the ronin, _I am no ordinary tiger as you five well know. It doesn’t take as long for my wounds to heal, unlike White Blaze_. Ears twitched and the demonic tiger raised his head just as the front door opened.

“Oh you’re all here,” Rachel was mildly surprised.

“Yeah we’ve been here for about twenty minutes.” Sage looked at Ryo, “How’s your arm?”

“It okay right now.” He closed the door.

“I’ll look at it after dinner,” the younger girl looked at her best friend, “Can I talk to you for a moment?” She motioned upstairs.

Sileny blinked, “Sure I’ll be right up.” She watched Rachel go up the stairs before fixing her eyes on the other two ronin.

Kento held his hands up, “She came back from her break and acted like something was wrong but she won’t tell us. We’ve tried.”

“Hmmm-okay. Why don’t you guys decide on dinner and I’ll go up to see if I’m punching someone in the face tomorrow?”


	14. Chapter 14

A Part

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

 

Chapter Fourteen

 

“I’m getting really annoyed with these guys,” Kento glared at the wall, “They can come calling on us but when we try to call on them they don’t answer. Rude.”

“They want to be sure we only fight them on their terms. Sounds like their master.” The swordsmen said bitterly.

"These ass holes don’t get to make that choice after attacking the girls!”

“You want to go back out there?” Cye looked at his best friend, “Kento we looked all over the city. There’s no trace of them.”

“I wonder if Sil was onto to something when she suggested they might not even be in the city.”

Ryo raised a brow, “What?”

“I think she was half joking when she said it, though it’s possible. We saw Shikaisen in New York but his base was on the other end of the country in Los Angeles.”

Sage suppressed the memories that tried to fly up, “We have no reason to think otherwise, especially after today. And we haven’t seen Ranmaru and Yoritomo for a while now, just their soldiers. They must be planning something.”

“How are we going to lure them to us? We know they want our armors and possibly revenge but so far they aren’t what I’d call stupid.” Ryo looked from Sage to Rowen, “Any ideas?”

“Not really. They aren’t shy about attacking us one on one or in groups. While we were out today they had a chance to attack the three of us,” he motioned between Cye, Sage and himself, “Or even the two of you if they wanted. Still nothing happened.”

“Like when we first saw them. They attack us and our armors countered, we lost consciousness but they didn’t capture us then. It was a perfect chance.”

“Okay maybe we can’t set a trap for them but we should try and come up with some kind of plan.” Torrent looked at the group, “At least we know the girls have some more protection if they dare to come back here.”

Ryo glanced up the staircase to the light coming from Rachel’s room and the form of Black Blaze guarding the entrance.

* * *

 

“Wow Jared finally asked you out,” Sileny stared at her friend, “Let me guess you feel the little sting of guilt like when you turned Bo down, don’t you?”

“Well yeah,” She shifted, “Jared is a nice guy and all but I just don’t feel attracted to him or anything.”

Azure eyes looked at the doorway, “That would be someone else.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Guilty. However, we are not talking about me.” She looked back at her friend, “Kento said you didn’t tell them what happened. Why not?”

Rachel looked visibly annoyed, “That’s not entirely true. I told them it was nothing important.”

“Nothing important?” Sileny stared at her friend, crossing her arms.

“I just… I don’t know.” Rachel sighed. No that wasn’t true. She knew why she hadn’t said anything. “Would you have said something?”

“Yes.”

“Even if Rowen was there?”

“Especially if Rowen was there,” the older girl held up her hands, “Look I know it’s stupid and childish, but I’d want to see what his reaction would be. Especially after hearing I said no to whoever it was. Don’t tell me you aren’t a little curious about what Ryo’s reaction would be?”

Remembering yesterday’s evens Rachel looked at the wall, “I do and I don’t.”

“Alright, Rachel, did something happen yesterday? You two have been acting a little weird around each other.”

She blushed despite herself, “Can we talk about that another time…?”

“So something did happen-what? I’m not asking what it was.”

She groaned.

Sileny studied her friend. Whatever happened yesterday was weighing on her mind heavy now that yet another guy had asked her out. “You going to be okay?”

“Yeah. Sometimes it’s just hard being in a living manga.” Sky blue eyes looked to the doorway before back to her friend, “What’s for dinner? We don’t have much here.”

“Not enough to feed seven people, I suggested take out. I told the guys to decide on something while we had out little chat. They are also going to stay one more night just in case.”

_Want to be sure our barrier works_. Rachel did feel a little safer with the barrier around the property and was grateful the guys wanted to stay and be sure it worked. A repeat of last night was not high on her to-do list; nor on Sileny’s for that matter.  “I’m fine with them staying for as long as they want.” Standing up she said, “I’m going to get in the shower real fast. Whatever you guys want for dinner is fine with me as long as it’s not spicey.”

“Save a little hot water for me.”

* * *

 

Dinner turned out to be four large pizza’s, three orders of breadsticks, and wings from the local pizza chain just a few blocks away. Rachel rejoined the group not too long after the food had arrived. They all sat around the living room recounting the day’s lack of events.

“Let me look at that,” Rachel turned to Ryo who lifted his arm for her, grunting at the stiffness of his muscles. She unwrapped the bandages she had previously put on just for extra measure after they stitched up the wound. “It’s not as red or swollen as it was yesterday. How does it feel?”

“Stiff mostly. It was itching like crazy this afternoon; I still get jolts of pain every now and then but not as bad.”

“You think that’s normal?” Kento looked at the stitches; anger threatening to rear its head.

“Normal for the five of you. Your armors are healing your injuries. I can probably take the stitches out as early as tomorrow night.”

Ryo was not looking forward to another round of pain, “At least then I can move my arm better and light those guys on fire.”

“You didn’t look to be struggling too hard with that last time,” Sileny commented.

Sage glared at his leader, “Don’t overdo it and risk opening your wound _again_ , Ryo.”

“I don’t want to reopen it, Sage, trust me that hurt like a bitch.”

“You guys really didn’t have problems like this before?” Sileny found that a little difficult to believe. “Getting injured like this.”

Kento set his drink down, “Nop, our first set of armor was just straight armor. We couldn’t really get cut or stabbed unless someone aimed for our faces. Got some pretty impressive bruises though.”

“That’s true. These armors are lighter and I appreciate the breathing room the fabric of our under gear gives us, but we are way more venerable too.” Cye sighed then smiled in Rachel’s direction, “We are lucky to have you and Sileny to help bandage us up. Don’t know what we’d do without you.”

“You’d come up with horrible stories to feed the E.R. every time you guys went to the hospital.”  Rachel looked at him, “I’d say you’re lucky I’m already studying to be a doctor. Sileny’s just able to sew better.”

“You didn’t grow up with a seamstress for an aunt,” The older girl reminded her, “I was taught basics from a young age. I would really nice to not sew up skin again if I could help it.” She stared at Ryo before gazing pointedly at the other four.

“I wondered how you knew to sew; I’ve never seen you do it.” Rowen looked at her.

“It’s like you and cooking; you know how to do it you just don’t like to do it.”

Boy was that true.

“I’m going to leave the bandages off for a bit so your wound can breathe,” Rachel said before looking at the others, “You guys didn’t find anything out there and neither did the others. What do you think we should do now?”

“We think Sileny might be onto something about them not even being in the city,” the blonde began, “That doesn’t really help us since we still don’t know when they will attack.”

The Ronin of Torrent nodded, “Yeah and they have no problems attacking us in a group or solo, or coming after the two of you. Hopefully this barrier Noboru set up works.”

“The only thing they really haven’t done yet is attack us out in public.”

“Um Rowen, hate to break it to you buddy, but they totally attacked Cye and Sileny in a park _and_ my parents’ house! Those are public places.”

“It was really late at night when they tried to jump Cye and I, Kento. I think we were the only ones in the park.”

“And when they attacked us at your parents place it was the middle of the day but they didn’t come in the front entrance,” Ryo added.

Sage thought for a moment, “The only thing really close to attacking us in public was when we first saw these sorcerers. We fought their guys on the rooftop and completely destroyed a building a few blocks over, but that’s it. The buildings destruction made the news but they chopped it up to being just old and abandoned. Nothing was said about us or seeing us.”

“And they haven’t come at us with that kind of force since then. Maybe we scared them with that counter attack?”

“It’s possible. But you also said they were testing us.”

“That’s what it looks like to me.”

The archer leaned back against the sofa, “All they’ve done is come at us and now we don’t know where they are or we could go at them.”

Rachel shifted, “I might regret bringing this up later, but what if you guy lure them to you? Set a trap.”

The warriors exchanged looked, “The one time we did that it didn’t end well.”

“Wait you’ve actually set a trap before?” That didn’t strike Sileny as their style. The warlords would do it in a heartbeat. These guys…

Ryo looked annoyed. The others went on tag-teaming as they explained the first time they fought Sarenbo. How they set a small trap to lure the warlord out in hopes of sending him home crying long before Ryo knew anything about it.

“Yeah no more trap laying for you lot unless you’re all in on it.” The older girl looked around her friends then pointedly at her best friend.

_Especially when it’s so obvious you’re laying a trap_ , Black Blaze quickly added, earning him a few glares.

Rachel didn’t want to know, “Well if no one is comfortable with laying a trap do we just wait for them to keep coming at you? That doesn’t sound like a good option either.”

“As long as it’s just these things they send at us we should be okay,” Ryo assured her only to be met with a look that stated she wasn’t sure.

“Let me throw this out there, what if we capture one of their ninja wanna be guys? Could we get him to talk?”

“They don’t really make sounds…” Kento groaned, “Could they be golems or something?” He looked to the mythology nerd.

“I don’t think they’re golems. I don’t really know what they are.”

“This is a really tough spot,” Cye leaned onto the table, “We can’t really talk to their-whatever they are, we can’t find the enemy base, all we do know is that they want our armors and revenge.”

“I hate to say this but there isn’t much to work with for forming a plan.” Strata bit into a breadstick.

_There has to be something_ , Sileny swirled her drink around.

Sage said, “We should at least think of something to do when they attack us next.”

“I’m on bored with that. So far it looks like these guys are easy to defeat if we use combination attacks.”

“I can think of a few combos we can do that they haven’t seen yet,” Ryo gave a small smirk.

Rachel and Sileny exchanged looks. At least this might get their guys somewhere.

* * *

 

Sleep came easy that night to the warriors. They had been able to form some sense of an attack plan. Not to mention a measure of security around this house, that gave them much mote piece of mind than they realized at the time.

The house was still until well past midnight when the Ronin of Strata was woken by a very insistent bladder. _Shouldn’t have had so much Italian Soda before bed_ … Once that problem was solved he had every intention of crawling back into bed until he noticed the dim light coming from upstairs. _What the? Is she still awake_?!

He walked up the stairs quickly and quietly. Sure enough there was Sileny sitting at her desk with a pile of mythology books around her, a letter from the university sitting on the book about ghosts, her attention focused on the notebook and writing about a million miles an hour.

Rowen just stood there in the doorway watching her. Unsure if he should say something or not. Why was she up so damn late?

Sileny paused aware of the eyes on her; turned to see the archer looking at her. “How long have you been standing there?

“Not long. Why are you still up? It’s late, even for you.”

She put a hand on her shoulder wound, “I can’t get comfortable. I figured I may as well get a few things done. Registration for winter classes starts soon and I’ve been picking my classes.” Sighing she looked at the clock, “Wow I didn’t know it was that late. Why are you up? Did you guys decide to keep watch or something?”

“I had to water the plants then I saw your light was on. Came to see if you were okay. Do you want me to get you something for your shoulder?”

“I took something a few hours ago, it just takes the edge off.” She watched him take a seat on her bed; spinning in her chair to face him, “Rowen if you’re tired you can go back to bed. You don’t need to stay up for me.”

“I know. I just want to talk to you. We haven’t had a chance to talk, just us two, since the attack.” His eyes landed on her shoulder and once more his mind filled with the image of seeing her pinned down and bleeding. Even though he had saved her, he could not find the words to describe the fear or rage that took a choke-hold on him in those few seconds before he had lossed his arrows.

Sileny had been preparing for what she knew this conversation would be about. No, they hadn’t had time to talk to each other alone about much of anything since they all decided a slumber party was in order. Everyone had been on high alert until this afternoon. But she had seen the anger, stress, worry, and the guilt on his face every time she caught him looking at her. “Alright. Let’s talk while we have this moment.”

Midnight eyes found her Azure ones, “You’re hurt. Ryo’s hurt. Rachel got hurt. We have no idea where the enemy is hiding to go kick their ass and get it over with. I don’t like it.”

“Neither do I. Ryo should be fine in a couple days-thanks in large part to his armor. Rachel just got a scratch and this,” she motioned to her shoulder, “Will take however long it takes. Please don’t start down a guilt trip over this because I am not mad at you.”

“I know you’re not but that doesn’t make it any easier to see you in pain. You’re in a lot of pain more pain right now than you care to admit. I can tell.” He put a hand on her good shoulder. “I heard you cry out when you got stabbed.” Letting go he looked away, “I didn’t know I could get so angry so fast until that moment.” He felt like he had let her down somehow and was ashamed of that.

"I will be alright.” She tried to assure him, “You should worry more about Ryo’s injury-”

“I am worried about the both of you. Ryo gets hurt more often than any of us would like to admit. We’ve almost lost him _twice_. And as horrible as this might sound, whenever a fight starts up I almost expect him to get hurt somehow.” Rowen took a breath to try and calm himself, “His arm is worse off than your shoulder, I won’t argue there. But I can’t put into words how much I hate it when I see you in pain.”

Sileny didn’t know what to say to that. His concern meant a great deal to her; she could feel her heart jump into her throat. She wondered if he could feel what she was feeling right now? The unease, the hope, the wanting...

“I wish we could have gotten here faster, I really do.”

“You’ll know for next time,” She leaned over and grabbed his hand, “Because we both know that ultimately there will be a next time. This was new to both of us. Next time you’ll know what it is when you sense my fear or whatever.” Shrugging she added, “I’ll go buy pepper spray or something.”

“Well if the spray doesn’t work, maybe I’ll just shove the little can of it in their eye socket.”

“You’d do it too.” He wrapped his hand around hers, “You’re right by the way. I will be here faster next time. I don’t want to feel like I’ve let you down again-even if you say I haven’t.”

“Touma you’ve never let me down. You’ve made me angry and scared me out of my mind several times, but you could never let me down.”

“Sileny.”

“Go get some rest, I think I’ll get and ice pack for my shoulder then try to do the same.”

“No. I’ll get you the ice pack for you.” Standing he pulled her up with him, “I’m coming with you guys to the café in the morning. I plan to hang out with Black Blaze around the call center later too. I don’t want to risk you.”

“I’m sorry to be such a liability.” Maybe it was the throbbing pain in her shoulder or the lack of much needed sleep that fogged her brain, or it was just her being a silly girl caught up in the moment. Sileny stood on the balls of her feet and planted a small kiss on Rowen’s cheek. It lasted only a second yet felt like forever. Returning to her height she gave the stunned archer a smile, “Thank you.”

Sileny took two steps away from him before Rowen pulled her back over.

* * *

 

Kento set his coffee cup down, eyeing his tall friend suspiciously across the table, “Something happened with you two last night.” It wasn’t a question. Since this morning he, and the others, had noticed Rowen and Sileny casting looks at each other and both had been smiling more.

“Maybe.” Vague as the answer was, the archer did not want to share what happened last night. At least not yet.

“That is not an answer.”

“It’s the only one I’m giving you.”

“Fine then. Be that way.” Though with that answer Kento had a pretty good idea what kind of something was going on.

“Rachel said the chocolate croissants will be done in a minute,” Ryo announced as he made his way back to the table they chose to take up in the café.”

“Sweet. I never really had those until she started working here. Now I know why she says they’re a big seller.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had one,” Rowen said, “I know she’s brought them to us a few times.”

“I haven’t had one either,” the leader side-eyed his other friend, “I know two people who get them all first.”

“Guilty as charged-bet you never knew Cye had such a sweet tooth for chocolate.”

“He gets one almost every time he’s been here, or so I hear,” Sileny walked over and set a tray with three other coffees down. She took a seat next to Rowen and Ryo sat between her and Kento. “Speaking of Cye, I know it’s still early, have he and Sage made it to Aoikigahara yet?”

“They just got there five minutes ago,” Rowen replied.

“I’m still not sure that going back there was necessary. Kayura sounded like they were pretty thorough in their search there yesterday.”

“Yeah but it gives us something to do, besides White Blaze is with them. I’m sure he can sniff out whatever they can’t see or sense.”

The swordsman nodded, “Trust me he can. And that creepy forest has held two things we’ve needed before. The Soul Swords and that gate to Haytie’s place.”

“I still think Black Blaze should have gone instead,” the girl took a sip of her coffee, “He lived here for a while. I bet he knows a few spots to look that the others could have missed.”

“That tiger was really animate about not going too far from you or Rachel. I think he has some guilt about the other day.” Kento looked at her.

“He has no reason to though, he did everything he could do.”

“Who’s feeling what now?” Rachel held a plate of freshly baked goodness.

“Kento thinks Black Blaze is feeling bad,” Ryo answered after moving his cup so she could put the plate down. _He wouldn’t be the only one feeling that way either_ … “Because of what happened the other night.”

 Rachel frowned, “I don’t think it’s guilt. I think he’s just being protective of us like you guys are.” She shifted, “But I do agree with Sileny and he should have gone with Sage and Cye.”

“Rachel!” A friendly voice called from the entrance. It was an older lady wearing the same work uniform as Rachel was; she was positively beaming.

She blinked, “Mai. What are you doing here? You weren’t on the schedule today.”

“I know, I know. Takashi called me in, Jared called him and left a message saying he wouldn’t be here. Apparently he isn’t feeling very well.”

“I bet he’s not.” Sileny said just loud enough for the others around her to hear before taking another drink from her coffee.

Ryo looked at her confused then he noticed how uncomfortable the expression on Rachel’s face became.

“I see. I hope he gets over it soon.” The younger girl forced a smile. She looked at her friends, “I’ll come back by after the morning rush has died down a bit.

They watched her walk back to the cash register with her co-worker. Then all eyes darted to the other girl who was blissfully eating a croissant.

“Sil?”

“Jared asked her out on a date yesterday and she turned him down.” Opening her azure eyes she added, “That’s what was wrong yesterday after her shift ended. He’s not the first one either. She always feels a little bad about it. Since he called out not feeling well he could be sick or not ready to see her yet. I’m going with the latter.”

“He...asked her out?” Ryo wasn’t sure why that hit him the way it did. Cye told them awhile ago that Jared had asked if she was dating anyone. _She turned him down_. His stomach did a summersault.

Kento took a quick side glance at his friend, “That explains why she was acting the way she was. But why wouldn’t she tell us about that?”

“I dunno. Jared’s been dropping hints about asking her out for about a month now, maybe seeing her here yesterday with two cute guys she’s close to gave him the push he needed. Rachel likes him just not like that. Bo asked her out a couple years ago and she turned him down for the same reason.”

Morning was creeping by both slow and uneventful. Cye and Sage had reported no luck and they would be joining them at the café soon with White Blaze. Soon it would be time to get things ready for lunch, that would also be the time Black Blaze, Rowen, and Sileny would need to head out so she could go to work.

And it wasn’t until they had confirmed that Sage and Cye weren’t far off when everything went to hell.

Rachel had come back over to the group to see how everyone was doing when one of the large windows had just shattered. Glass flew into the café, people screamed, the Ronin jumped into action and made sure everyone was away from the window. For one small second it seemed as though it was just a freak accident.

A thick, dark, and sickly sweet smelling smoke then flooded into the room from the kitchen area. Everything was engulfed in a matter of moments. People covered their mouths coughing and collapsing all round them.

Rowen had tried using his powers over the air to clear the smoke but it just made things worse, he held onto Sileny, unable to really see her as this fog clouded his senses.

Kento had darted to the kitchen to see if he could find out the cause of this, yet he hadn’t made it far before he too started coughing and found it hard to breath. Instead he called out to Cye and Sage warning them of what just happened.

Ryo coughed and covered his mouth, trying not to breath whatever this was in. He felt dizzy and couldn’t see very well through this mess. What he could make out was people falling all around him. Somewhere he could hear Black Blaze roar and was sure White Blaze answer. Then he caught a glimpse of Rachel not far from him, eyes closed tightly and mouth covered.

That was when he saw the kabuki mask and red wig come into view _right behind her_.

Panic filled him. “Rachel!” Wildfire ran towards her when something hit the back of his head.

Everything went black.


	15. Chapter 15

A Part

Chapter Fifteen

* * *

 

 

“Sage, is it me or is this place a little creepy no matter how many times we come here?”

“It’s creepy.” The swordsman agreed, “And if I’m being honest, I keep thinking that while we are in here we’re going to run across a body or two.”

Cye cringed, “I hope not. I could go the rest of my life and not see a dead body.”

“That makes two of us but you know this forests’ reputation as well as I do.”

“Your father is a cop, I think you know it better than I do through him. You said yourself he’s volunteered a few times on the annual body hunts.”

Sage nodded, “Alright let’s see if we can find anything that is alive.” He looked at the white tiger, “Smell anything?”

_Anything unusual for this place? No_. White Blaze shook his head. _And don’t fret about running into a dead body, I’ll warn you if we are close to one_. _There are a few yokai around us but they won’t hurt us_. He lead the way down the path. Is there any place you two want to start?

“Kayura said they checked this place thoroughly, but do you think they might have missed a spot?”

_It’s possible. There are a lot of hidden nooks and crannies in this forest, I don’t know them all though. Black Blaze would, maybe he and I should come back here later_.

The trio walked further into the dense forest. The further in they got the more and more it felt like they were being watched. It was an unsettling feeling, and the two warriors didn’t know if it was eyes of the dead or eyes of yokai that watched them. White Blaze didn’t look phased by this feeling thus the duo took that as a sign that everything was okay.

Last time they were here everyone was unconscious after the battle against Haytie. Granted they only knew they ended up here because the two tigers told them so. Just what was it about this place that made it such a magnet for strange things.

White Blaze stopped dead in his tracks.

“White Blaze?”

“What is it?”

His ears twitched and he turned his head to look back down the path, _Something is wrong. I think Black Blaze just tried to call me_.

Cye heard something too. A whisper of Kento’s voice, he didn’t hear the words but he could tell his friend was upset. “Sage did you hear that?”

He heard it perfectly clear. “They’re under attack.”

The trio took off back down the way they had come.

By the time Sage and Cye had arrived on the scene most of the smoke had cleared, they donned their armor with their masks down just to be safe. People lay on the floor unconscious, broken glass was all over the floor, tables closest to the windows had been knocked over, coffee and pastries had been smeared all over the floor.

“Rowen!” Sage spotted his roommate first. He dashed over to find his friend passed out on his side. Rowen looked unharmed from everything Sage could tell, “Rowen get up.”

White Blaze had found Ryo behind a fallen table, _They are drugged. This place smells like an old knock out gas from centuries ago_.

Cye headed to the kitchen area and sure enough there was Kento out cold against the wall. He dragged his friend out and other to the others. “Are they still here White Blaze?”

_I can’t sense nor smell them_. White Blaze looked around a, _Where are the girls_?

Torrent and Halo looked at each other before they searched the café. They looked everywhere, they couldn’t find Rachel, Sileny, or even Black Blaze.

_This is bad_. Torrent could feel the dread starting to take hold of him. The enemy had done the one thing they hadn’t seen them do yet; attacked in broad daylight with a crowed. They hadn’t all been together when it happened. And that wasn’t even the worst of it.

“Why take the girls when they had the chance to take Ryo, Rowen, and Kento?” Sage wondered aloud. Not that he wanted them taken captive either.

“They had a chance to take all five of us and they left us.” Cye reminded him, “Maybe they can’t just pick us up and carry us off? So they decided to take Rachel and Sileny instead.” He cursed loudly as he walked back to his friends. “This time there is no note about where to find them either.”

“I hope Sileny is still wearing that necklace. Rowen can find her if she is.” Sage looked down at his three friends then back to the water warrior, “That will give us an advantage.”

Cye nodded, “Lets get them out of here before everyone else wakes up.”

White Blaze paced beside the humans growling the whole while. Finally, he stopped and faced the setting sun before letting out a loud roar. _Black Blaze where are you three_?

* * *

 

“Where am I?” Rachel gazed around the small room. She’d woken on the floor expecting to still be in the café, not in an office like room that looked and smelled like no one had been there for decades. What little furniture that was in the room looked like it came out of a 1940’s film. The whole room was covered in dust and the windows covered by old newspaper, with just a little sunlight showing through.

“You are in an old factory long forgotten by the outside world.”

She turned around to see one of the red-haired onmyoji sitting in a chair. His body language made him look calm. Rachel couldn’t see his face but she could feel his eyes on her now.

She had been captured.

“Fret not, you’re not in any danger. We just need you and your friend here to bring the Ronin to us on our terms.”

Standing up she glared at him, “You knock us unconscious with that smoke of yours, bring us to an abandoned factory, and you say we’re in no danger? Where is Sileny?!”

“She is in another room. As is that yokai beast of yours.” He stood up, “We thought it best to keep you separated-for now. I’m sure you’re worried about your friend, but she too is unharmed. My brother and I just need to borrow you both then you’ll be on your way. Free from us and free from them.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

“We are offering your knights in shining armor a trade. Your lives for theirs.”

In the movies this was the part where Rachel would shout, ‘they’d never do that,’ but she knew they would come. Not to trade their lives but to rescue them. “You do want them dead then. It is revenge.”

“If it was revenge we sought, the two of you would be dead.” He waved his hand and took a step towards her. “If anything we are keeping you two alive as a thank you to your friends.”

“A thank you? For what?”

 “Killing Shikaisen.” At her surprise he continued, “We left that old fool long ago. His thirst for power matched ours but he lacked true vision and finesse. He wanted to rule the world we seek something different.” He paused and took another step. “I could tell you our story of woe but I’d rather not.”

She took a step away from her captor, “You can’t kill them just by using us as bait.”

“Dead? No. We don’t plan to kill them. We plan to use them.” He turned to the door, “Get comfortable, Rachel Hoth. You will be here until they come for you.”

_It finally happened then. I am a real prisoner this time._ She glared at the closed door then turned to the window. Before passing out she had heard Ryo call her name and here she was to be a sitting duck while they came for her and Sileny.

No. No there had to be a way out of here.

First she went to the door only to find it locked. Not that that was a surprise. The window maybe? She ran over to it and began tearing the papers off only to find bars over the windows... and a sea of trees five stories below her with a city barely visible.

“Where in the hell am I?”

* * *

 

Sileny stared out the window, old dirty newspapers clutched in her hand. The sun was setting and she could just make out a cityscape past a small forest of trees. “What the hell?”

“Had you expected to wake in a castle?”

Glaring she spun around, grabbed an old dusty book off the desk that was between them, and threw it at her captor.

The white-haired onmyoji caught the book with ease. He chuckled, “Fast reflexes. You are good at using your surroundings, aren’t you?”

“You ass hole, how dare you.”

“Calm yourself. You’re unharmed as is your friend, we are just keeping the two of you apart for now.”

“Until our friends come for us and you use us against them.”

He tilted his head, “No. We’ve decided to keep you apart until we have our trade. Then you are both completely free from all this.”

“You both had chances to take them captive but you took us instead. How cowardly of you.” She glared at him, “They won’t play into your hands so easily. You don’t know them.”

“We tried taking them while they were unconscious the first time we met them, it didn’t work. Also, we don’t have to know them. You two are friends of theirs, they care for you both very much.” He pointed at her necklace, “One even cares deeply about you, warriors don’t give tokens like that for no reason here. Humans always come running to protect things they care about, be it another human or a small object with no real value.” Motioning around the room he continued, “I know this isn’t ideal, but it will only be a few days at most. Then once we have what we want, you two will be on your way.”

_Didn’t work_? “You won’t be getting what you want. Whatever it is. They won’t give it to you.”

“They will give it over to us, one way or another. Oh don’t glare like that, we don’t plan to kill you two nor do we want to. You’ll both be set free. Free to live your own lives for as long as you have them, far away from all this.”

Something about he way he said it, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You will find out. In the meantime, read a book.” He set the old book she had thrown at him on the table, “You won’t be doing much else.” Turning he went out and shut the door so fast it was like watching a ghost vanish.

Rachel was in this building somewhere. That wasn’t much comfort. This wasn’t the first time they’d be been captured no, but it was the first time it felt like real danger. Sileny could remember ever detail about being tied to Tokyo Tower, and being stuck in that cage high above in Haytie’s palace. Both times she had been more afraid than she might admit out loud but this…

This was different.

The way her captor had said _free_ …

* * *

 

It felt like someone had pulled a rug out from under him to watch him fall down the stairs. Ryo’s head was pounding with pain and with rage. They had gone to the café to ensure nothing would happen to the girls.

He had seen the enemy _right behind her_.

All the good their planning had done them.

“Can you sense Sileny?” Sage looked to the archer.

Rowen glared at the floor trying to keep his own anger in check, “I can sense her but not her exact location. She’s scared and _very_ angry.”

“You can’t sense where she is?” Kento stared, “You had no problem sensing her location before.”

He closed his eyes, “Maybe there is a limit of how far out I can sense her? Really we don’t live that far from her and Rachel when you think about it. This is still something new that she and I are doing. It’s amazing that it works at all!”

Ryo punched the wall, “We have to go out there and start looking for them! We can just stand here and wait for those ass holes to show up with demands.”

“I agree!” Kento nodded once, “Let’s get out there and start hunting them down!”

“Hang on you two, we can’t just go running around town using Rowen’s connection to Sileny as a GPS. We need some kind of plan.”

“You got a better idea Sage? ‘cause we can’t just leave the girls hanging either.”

“I wish I did.” He looked to the archer, “Tell me you have one.”

“I think running around town and using my connection to Sileny as a GPS is probably the best option right now.”

“You said yourself you can’t sense where she is,” Cye reminded him, “We could be running around the city for hours.”

“Before all this happened I could sense her better the closer we got to each other. I know what this means but until those two costumed apprentices show up this is our best option and it’s more than we’ve had in the past.”

Sage didn’t like this, even if right now it did look like their best option. “So we just go running all over Tokyo until you pin point a direction?”

“I don’t like it either.” Rowen admitted, “I’m not going to stand here and wait for them to make their move either.”

Beside them all the large white tiger gave a low, angry, growl.

“Perhaps I can save you a bit of time.”

Before they could turn around, White Blaze charged at the white-haired foe, only missing when his target moved.

“Really you old beast?” He tilted his head in the direction of the tiger when he felt something fly past his face then his wig was knocked off.

Strata held his bow tightly with a new arrow ready to fire, “Start talking.”

The mask was still over his face, but his long dark hair fell out of the bun it had been in. “We thought you’d be eager to fight. Low and cliché as this might be.”

“What have you done with them?!” Kento glared.

“They are unharmed. For now.” He faced them, “I am here to discuss terms.”

“Your surrender? Let’s talk.”

“My but you are a confident bunch. I am here to talk terms of your surrender. As I said, your ladies are unharmed _for now_. But their fate is now in your hands. Turn over your lives and armors to us and they will go free.”

_Liar_.

_They would never forgive us_. Cye thought,

_It’s clearly a trap_ , Sage stiffened. Was this how the others had felt last time? Angry and near helpless? The girls were his friends.

“No answer? Not ready to see them again?” They could hear the smirk in his voice, “Very well. You have twelve hours to find us and surrender yourselves. Once you do then you will see them one more time before your lives and armors belong to us.”

And just like that the enemy vanished.


End file.
